Wizards, Whips and Wands
by GreyLiliy
Summary: The Sorcerer Hunters find themselves lost after an accident in a cave! How will they deal with a world where magic is kept secret from parsoners? And how will Harry & Co. deal with the Hunters unorthodox methods? Crossover. SH x Harry Potter.
1. We're not in Spooner anymore, Carrot

This story has been churning in my brain for years now and seeing it on paper is quite a difference. I do hope you all enjoy it as much as I do writing it! 

Notes for Context: This story takes place in the Sorcerer Hunters timeline, Manga, to just after they defeat Zaha Torte/Zacher and just before the final arc with Charlotte. (If you're watching the anime only, than it takes place after series.) As for the Harry Potter segment, it takes place in an AU Fifth year. Why? Because this was in my head before the fifth book was released (took me long enough to write it down, ne?) and I'm not as familiar with the events in book five as I am with the other four novels.

Happy reading!

**Part 1. We're not in Spooner anymore, Carrot.**

"I don't like this, Marron."

Marron lifted his head from the markings on the wall he'd been studying. "I agree with you, brother."

"It's just too damn quiet!" Carrot kicked a rock along the wall. His unused sword rattled at his side from the motion.

Marron sighed and went back to his wall casually brushing a strand of hair back over his shoulder. The walls were covered in poetry and other writings from sorcerers long gone from this world. The siblings, along with their partners, were on assignment in this old underground mansion trying to find a sorcerer named Cake Short. Short was suspected of using forbidden magic that affected space and time. Needless to say, the Sorcerer Hunters were needed to eliminate the problem if they found the rumors to be true. As of yet, they hadn't even found the sorcerer.

"Wonder where Tira and the others got off to?" Carrot grumbled. They'd been searching this damn cave that was a sad excuse for a house for two days now. The sad part was there was still plenty to search. "We haven't seen them for ages."

"My spinner trace is still intact so we can find them if we get too concerned." Marron smiled using the threads to reflect little glints of light. "But for now let's just enjoy the quiet. This is a pretty passage."

"Still reading the poetry, Marron?" Carrot walked closer to read over Marron's shoulder. "That one?"

Marron nodded at Carrot's pointing finger. "Yes."

"The rose blooms even in winter." Carrot tilted his head. "That is kind of pretty. If you're into that type of stuff, I guess."

Marron smiled a little. His brother would probably never truly appreciate things like literature. Still, it didn't hurt to try and get him interested. "Ah, well. Enough of a break, we need to keep looking."

"Yeah, yeah." Carrot huffed. "I still don't think he'd be down here."

"I'm tempted to agree with you, brother." Marron lit up a small ofuda to take a closer look at the next hall. "But things are always where you look last, right?"

"That doesn't change the fact that this sucks." Carrot looked up at his younger brother. "Marron?"

"Something's coming."

Carrot put himself on guard, if the look in his brother's eyes meant anything, something big was coming. "What is it?"

"I'm," Marron stopped. "Oh. Never mind." Marron's shoulders relaxed and he just held his head with his free hand. "It's for you, brother."

"For me?" Carrot blinked. "What could be for me?"

"Darling!" The dreaded elongated term of affection rang out through the tunnel.

"Ah!" Carrot shrieked. "Not her! Anything but her!"

"Oh Darling! Have you missed me?" Chocolat leaped to rub up against Carrot but settled to just snuggle his arm.

"Get off of me!"

"But Darling!"

"Sister!" Tira soon made her way out of the tunnel. "Leave Carrot alone!"

Marron was sitting back and enjoying the banter. It was a dependable occurrence and the day Chocolat didn't tackle Carrot and have Tira turn red was a day Marron would be worried. As much as his brother fought it though, Marron knew that Carrot loved the attention. Marron on the other hand wasn't as fond of attentions as his brother. He sighed and resigned himself for what was to come. "Hello Gateau."

"Ah, even in the dark you're still the vision of loveliness." Gateau smiled. "As a dedication to that beauty…"

Marron turned around to face the inevitable.

"LOOK AT ME!" The standard muscle man pose and flexing followed the shout.

And also as usual, Marron ignored him and started walking towards Carrot.

Gateau kept his flexing going for a few moments before finally putting his shirt back on. "Ah, nothing fixes a boring mission like something pretty to look at."

"If you're done smothering my brother would it be too much to ask if you've found anything?" Marron tapped Chocolat on the shoulder.

Carrot hit the ground sharply when Chocolat released him to consider Marron. "Not a thing. I swear, I think Big Mamma got her information wrong."

"As much as I hate to think Mamma made a mistake," Tira fixed her glasses. "It doesn't seem like Short is here."

"Well, that's good for us right?" Carrot rubbed his head. "It just means we don't have to deal with it."

"That's what I'd expect the ugly to say." Gateau smashed his fist into his palm. "We have to take care of the scoundrel before he becomes a problem."

"Gateau's right, Carrot! You can't let other people handle your problems!" Carrot winced at Tira's scolding.

"I know." Carrot stood up. "We're the good guys. I got it, I got it."

"Brother," Marron sighed the familiar name and held back the smile. His brother was much too easy to get worked up. "Let's go ahead and check this last tunnel before we check in for the night."

"Sounds good." Carrot dusted himself off and headed towards the darker part of the tunnel where they had yet to check.

Marron followed along while the others continued their usual banter. He tuned in to what they were saying briefly, but honestly he was scanning the walls for more poetry. He hoped that Carrot wouldn't have to transform for this mission if it could save the house from total destruction. It would be such a waste.

"It doesn't look like there's anything here." Tira adjusted her glasses. "This tunnel only leads to a dead end."

"So, we wasted all this time when I could have been with my Darling?" Carrot tried to fight Chocolat as she reclaimed his arm. "We could have been snuggling outside under the moon."

"Maybe we should call Big Mama and ask what's up." Gateau leaned on the wall that ended the tunnel. "There is no way we could not have found this guy, yet. And if he's here you'd think he would have at least made himself known in some attempt to fight us."

"Or maybe he's smart and laying low until we give up and leave." Marron put in his input and stared at the wall Gateau had made into a resting place. Something was odd about it that he couldn't quite place.

"Hey," Carrot poked said wall. "How come this wall doesn't have any poetry or that story stuff on it?"

Marron's attention was immediately snapped to attention. _That was it!_ The wall was missing all of the literature that adorned the other towering sides of the tunnels. "Good going, Brother."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Chocolat had still yet to let go of Carrot's arm.

"It means that this wall is either new or they got lazy when they built the thing." Knocking her knuckles against the wall, Tira scrutinized the make of the granite.

"Gateau," Marron looked at the bulking man from his peripheral. "Could you please knock this wall down?"

"Anything for you." Gateau waited a beat for the others to back away from his target. It took one good blow to knock the entire thing into scattered pieces and clouds of dust. He grinned at Marron's approval of the work; it was a good idea to avoid hurting the poetry on the walls right next to it. "Piece of cake."

"Yes?"

Everyone turned to look inside the newly formed hole to find the source of the response. Just inside the broken wall was a rather large room, minimally furnished. The whole of the furniture was a small writing desk made of mahogany or something similar with a matching chair. Sitting on the chair was a gangly little man with a mop of white hair on his head. His glasses shone in the newly introduced light as he turned to face the group.

"Cake Short?" Tira braved the first questioning.

"Yes?" The man's overcoat opened slightly as he swiveled in his chair to face the hunters. "What do you want?"

"Hey, old man!" Carrot marched over to the man's desk and leaned on it. "How long have you been down here?"

Short pushed his glasses up farther on his chin and stared at Carrot. "A zoanthropist. Those are quite rare these days, sonny."

"Huh?" Saucer plates would have been jealous of Carrot's eyes. "How'd you know that?"

"The energy is radiating off of you, youngster." He pointed a finger to Marron. "And that young lad practices Eastern Magic, am I right?"

"Yes." Marron was dumbstruck. They'd never met a sorcerer who could tell their powers at a glance.

"Oh! And the little lady in glasses is a user of Gaias!" He got a quirky little grin on his face as he clasped his hands together. He had a warm laugh. "Such a talented little group!"

"Oi," Carrot poked the man in the head. "You never answered my question."

"Oh?" Short readjusted his glasses yet again and studied Carrot. "Ten, fifteen years maybe? I think I lost track around ten."

"There is no way you've been in this little room without food or water for ten years."

"Don't give me that look, young man." Short turned and stood up to walk to the other corner of the room. "As you can see I've got plenty to live on."

Carrot stared as one of the far walls moved on its own to reveal a cupboard of sorts and a decorated silver plated dish sink. "Canned foods?"

"Magic sealed." Short smirked. "Enough to last another twenty if I watch it."

"Mixed veggies, mixed fruit, canned beans, canned chili, beets, and a whole bunch of pre-made stuff." Tira took a can off the shelf. "Quite a collection."

"Well," Chocolat stomped her foot. "If he's been down here than he couldn't have been the one to switch around everyone's ages!"

"Unless he could do it from down here, of course." Marron was still suspicious and addressed Cake Short. "Would you know anything about the random extreme age changes in your village?"

"Yeah," Carrot hit the desk for emphasis. "You made all the hot young ladies into ugly old hags!"

"I assure you," Short returned to his chair. "I like women just as much as the next man and I would never do such a thing."

"Well, that's proof enough for me." Carrot nodded. "What man _would_ do that to a pretty young lady?"

"Besides, I don't mess with that stuff anymore." He turned to face Marron. "Messing with Time and Space caused much too much hassle to keep up with."

"Could you tell us who would know enough about that magic to do something of that sort?"

"I'm sorry, Marron, was it? But you're the first lot I've seen since I moved down here to get away from everyone."

"Damn." Gateau hit the wall fiercely. "That means this really was a waste of time."

"What's that?" Tira pointed to the wall that had opened just behind the desk. "Gateau hitting the wall must have opened it."

"Oh that?" Short leaned in to check the labels on some of the bottles sitting on the newly revealed shelves. "Just some old potions and spells from my youth. They open portals, stop aging, speed up aging, mess with time and such."

"Forbidden magic." Marron confirmed that at least some of the rumors were true.

"Yes, forbidden magic, but I can guarantee that it wasn't forbidden when I made them!"

"How old are you?" Carrot leaned in to read the labels. "And why did you keep a stuffed rabbit in here?"

"Older than your Big Mama if you really want to know." Short watched the ears flop on the stuffed rabbit that Carrot now held. "And that is Mr. Melody if you must know. My mother made him when I was about six."

"Ah," Tira skipped over to join Carrot with Mr. Melody. "That's so sweet!"

"How do you know about Big Mama?" Marron came closer to inspect Short.

"Mama's the only one who keeps Sorcerer Hunters." Short grabbed Marron's sleeve, his bony hands were almost lost in the fabric. "I've only been here for fifteen years maximum, they've been around for quite longer."

"We never introduced ourselves as Sorcerer Hunters, old man." Gateau leaned slightly into a fighting stance. The inverted triangle on Short's forehead was starting to piss him off on principle.

"Only Sorcerer Hunters would be trying to hunt down those who misuse magic." Short wet his dry lips. "Thought that would calm you down. Young'ins these days."

Marron was growing uncomfortable with this man's hand still around his sleeve. But he was more uncomfortable with his brother looking through the vials in the shelves. Though, it was endearing to see him doing it with a stuffed rabbit under his arm while Tira cooed over it. "Brother, I don't think it's wise to touch those."

"What?" Carrot was holding a black vial in his hand. "Long as they're in the bottle they're okay, right old man?"

"More or less, just don't drop it."

"Yeah right, like I'd be that clumsy."

"_Put the vial down._"

"You all didn't have to gang up on me like that." Carrot looked like a kicked puppy, but he did put the vial back on the rack where he found it.

"Come on," Gateau turned and faced towards the exit. "If this old guy's got nothing to do with it, than we have no purpose here."

"Now wait just a minute." Short stood. "You break my wall and just leave?"

"Well, I guess we could fix it." Marron stared at the rubble as Short walked just outside the doorway to check the damage from the outside. "Somehow."

Carrot hugged the rabbit and leaned against a clean spot on the wall. "Bummer."

"Something's still bothering me." Tira held a finger to her lips. "If he didn't do it, then why did Big Mama send us here?"

"I'm probably the only one she knows who could make a potion like that." Short grumbled. "I doubt she did any research to find anyone else who knew how to do it."

"Don't talk bad about Mama!" Tira jumped to defense.

"Ow!" Carrot tried to avoid Tira's outspread hands but was unsuccessful and fell back and sideways into the shelves of vials and jars. They fell to the floor in a rain of colored glass and shattered at Carrot's feet. The room filled with blinding light and Short had to avert his eyes.

"Carrot!"

"Brother!"

"Darling!"

"You idiot!"

------

Carrot was in pain. There was no other way to describe how he was feeling when he awoke. His face was pressed into something hard, flat and textured. "Would it be too much to ask for you guys to get off of me?"

One by one the groans could be heard as they all stumbled off the fallen pervert. As Carrot forced himself off the ground he noticed that Mr. Melody was next to him. He shook his head to clear it before picking up the stuffed toy and securing it under his sword harness. No point in loosing something important to someone just because you blew up his room. He briefly paused to check how everyone else was fairing. Tira and Chocolat seemed to be doing all right and looking around. Gateau was complaining about dirt and Marron was staring at a weird post sticking out of the ground.

"What are you looking at, Marron?" Despite the street lamps it was still dark out and Carrot couldn't tell from the distance.

"A sign of some sort." Marron took a few steps closer. "I believe it says 'Privet Drive.'"

"What do you think that means?"

Marron turned to see his brother walk up behind him. "I'm not sure, really. I guess it's the name of the street."

"Look at all the houses in a line." Tira squinted in the light that was provided. "They're all exactly the same."

"You don't think we're in a sorcerer's town do you?" Gateau studied the houses. "These are all much too nice to be parsoners' homes."

"Gateau may be right." Chocolat added her bit in and plucked a leave from a nearby bush. "This is a rather fancy place."

"I'd just be happy knowing we're still on Spooner." Marron sighed. "We did mix a bunch of forbidden magic together to create a portal of some sort."

"You mean Carrot did."

"Knock it off, Gateau!" Carrot spun on his heel to chew the bigger man out. "It wasn't my fault I fell!"

"So you're blaming Tira?"

"No!"

"Please calm down, the both of you." Marron intervened. "It was no one's fault. Let's just concentrate on getting out of this mess."

"Fine." The two teammates muttered in unison.

"Good." Marron was about to relax when he saw the area around him brighten up. There seemed to be a light source coming from behind him. "What?"

"Get out of the bleedin' road!"

Marron spun around when he heard a screeching noise and the sound of a man yelling. The others all jumped to attention where they were and put admiring the scenery on hold.

"What on earth is that?" Marron stared at the strange contraption. It looked much like a carriage or cart, only without the horse. Was it moved by magic?

The fat man behind the lass smacked the curved disc in front of him to produce a horrid honking noise. The woman seated next to the man seemed to have a permanent scowl on her horse drawn face, and it looked like two boys in the back. The honking didn't stop and Marron had to cover his ears. He was grateful when Carrot and the others came to stand with him in face of this new development.

"What the hell is wrong with all of you weirdos?" The man made the noise again. "It's eleven at night and I want to go home! Get out of the road!"

"Hey!" Carrot shouted back. "Give us a minute! We're lost! And what the heck is this thing anyway?"

"How did it move without a horse?" Tira was close to battle ready, but it didn't seem as if they were needed to fight.

"What magic is this?" Chocolat shouted.

"Magic?" The man behind the wheel seemed to have gears turning in his head. "Oh no, you freaks are not wanted here!"

"Freaks?" Carrot clenched his fists. "Who the hell you calling freaks, porky?"

"Brother."

"What? We can't let him get away with this?"

Marron put a hand on Carrot's shoulder. "Calm yourself, we don't know the situation."

"I know they're pissing me off."

Harry had been bored out of his mind. The one time his family lets him out of the house all summer and it's to go to some stupid shopping trip for Dudley. The only reason he was forced to come was to act as a pack mule and carry their things. He crossed his arms and willed the car ride to be over when the car suddenly came to a halt. And now he was staring at five strangely dressed people that were apparently in a fight with his Uncle. At the mention of magic Harry knew there would be trouble.

"I should just run them all over." Vernon Dursley was not a happy man. He had just about lost it with all of these insane people taking over his neighborhood. Petunia just held her head in her hands and prepared for the headache. Dudley was fast asleep.

"You can't do that!" Harry shouted. "You'll get in trouble with the ministry."

"Oh shut up you!" He glared at Harry through the rearview mirror before readdressing the problem before him. "Get out of the road already!"

"Not until you tell us what kind of magic this is!" Carrot was relentless.

Harry's finally understood. They had to be lost in the muggle world and don't know what a car is. After meeting a few wizards who had never had contact with muggles it would be natural to assume they didn't know what technology is or how it worked.

"Hey!" Harry jumped out of the car and walked up to the others. "It's not magic. It's a car, muggle technology."

"What's a muggle?" Carrot was confused. His argument with the fat man was interrupted by a kid. "And who are you?"

"Wait," Harry was confused. Every wizard knew what a muggle was, mostly if it was just to avoid them. "Aren't you all wizards, too?"

"Wizard?" Carrot blinked. "You mean a sorcerer? No, of course not! Do I look like I've got a triangle on my forehead?"

"Get in the car this instant!" Vernon was shouting at Harry now.

"That guy is really getting on my nerves." Carrot frowned. "What's his deal?"

"He hates wizards and magic."

"That makes two of us, but he doesn't have to be such a moron." Gateau sighed. "Ugly people shouldn't be aloud to draw this much attention to themselves."

"I'm very confused, sister." Tira crossed her arms. "Does this mean that the people in the car are wizards? But they're not using magic?"

"But they hate magic, so I guess that couldn't be the case, Tira." Chocolat walked over to the boy. "Why don't we start this another way? Who are you and where are we?"

"How about I ask you how you got here first?" Harry wasn't sure giving out his name was the smartest of ideas right now. He tried to ignore Vernon honking and cursing in the background. On the bright side, he knew the man would never get out of that car with armed wizards around. His eyes couldn't help but look at the sword on Carrot's waist…sitting next to a stuffed rabbit?

"We knocked over some vials with magic potions and we got blown here." Carrot rubbed his hair. "Not much else to it than that. So, I guess the simple answer would be: a magic spell cast on accident."

"Oh," Harry considered them. They were a job for the ministry to sort out if he'd ever seen one. "My name is Harry Potter, I'm a wizard still in school, and you're in England."

"England?" Marron turned to face the boy sharply. "Where is that?"

"In Europe."

"What's Europe?" Chocolat asked. "Is that on Spooner?"

Harry gulped. This might have just gotten much more complicated than he had imagined. "I think we should call the Ministry of Magic and have this whole mess sorted out."

"Not a chance." Gateau stepped closer to intimidate the kid. "We don't make deals or take help from sorcerers."

"Gateau!" Tira smacked his arm and ruined his tough guy image. "That's rude and we don't even know if he's evil yet."

"Unlike the fatty in the car who has been confirmed to be a pain." Carrot pointed with his thumb behind him.

"He's starting to make me lose even my calm." Marron twitched. "If he honks that horn one more time…"

"You might want to tell him to stop before Marron gets mad." Carrot winked at Harry. "He can pack quite a punch."

"Let's just get out of the street and let them leave."

"Why didn't we do that earlier than?" Chocolat complained.

"I'm not sure." Harry led them all to the side of the road but the whole while his thoughts were racing. He was with a group of people who hated wizards, and had no clue where they were. On the upside of things, they didn't seem to recognize or react to his name.

"This really sucks." Carrot huffed. "I hate being lost."

"I'm sure it'll get better, Brother." Marron turned to Harry. "Assuming you can help us out? We are rather at your mercy right now."

"Sure. I'll contact the ministry and we'll get this all sorted out."

"I'm not sure if I trust him." Gateau couldn't believe that sorcerers would be of any help, especially if they found out who they were. "I don't trust authority figures I don't know."

"If you're here because of a magical incident, than the ministry is in charge." Harry tapped his foot and wondered if he _should_ contact Dumbledore instead. The ministry wasn't too happy with him right now after Voldermort's resurrection. "But, I could contact my school headmaster. He's the strongest wizard there is and he's a very helpful and caring man. I'm sure he could help you out just as easily without getting authorities involved."

"That might be better." Tira agreed. "We'd want to keep this low profile so we can just go home and forget it happened."

"But before that," Harry shifted his glasses. "Could you introduce yourselves? I told you my name."

"Oh right!" Carrot grinned and pointed at his face. "My name is Carrot Glace."

Marron straightened his back and quickly dusted his robes. "Marron Glace."

"Tira Misu."

"Chocolat Misu."

"And I'm," Gateau ripped off his shirt to pose and show off his suddenly gleaming muscles in the bit of light available. "Gateau Mocha. You can't help but _look at me_!"

"Nice to meet you." Harry was lucky his voice didn't crack. He'd never seen muscles that big on anyone before.

Gateau smirked at the stunned expression. "Yes, I know. My muscles are overwhelming."

"Put your shirt back on you big dunce!" Carrot kicked him. "This isn't the time for that!"

"Whatever." Gateau pulled the shirt over his head. "You know you can't keep your eyes off."

"Darling!" Chocolat ripped her outer coat off to reveal her skimpy tank. "Look at me instead!"

"Ah!" Carrot hid behind Marron. "Get away from me! I don't want it!"

"But Darling! We're lost in the middle of nowhere! What better way to comfort ourselves than to express our love?"

"What love?" Carrot dodged back and forth behind a now somewhat startled Marron as Chocolat matched him move for move. "There's no love here!"

"Darling!"

Harry could only stare. He'd never seen grown adults act like this before. After cleaning his glasses he considered this group again. They might have been younger than adults, but that still didn't change the fact that Harry had a sinking feeling he had gotten in over his head.

"Maybe you should contact your schoolmaster, was it?" Tira walked over to Harry. "I want to get this mess over with as soon as possible."

"Right." Harry started backwards towards his home. "I've got to get Hedwig so I can write him."

"Hedwig?"

"My owl."

"What good will an owl do?" Carrot stared at Harry thoughtfully, even if he was still fighting off Chocolat with the arm not clinging to Marron.

"It'll deliver the message. That's how wizards communicate."

"Really, now." Marron knew that they were in for a long and weirder than normal ride. The breath was knocked from him when Chocolat missed and grabbed him instead. He hoped they made it through it okay.


	2. Dumblewhat? Deathwhat?

I feel kind of guilty working on this so soon when I still have two other fics that need updating, but this one is just flowing from my fingertips. Enjoy the latest segment and thanks for reading!

**Part 2. Dumblewhat? Deathwhat?**

Marron sighed as he sat on the back end of Harry's bed. They had been waiting for a reply from Harry's "owl" for about two hours now. On the bright side, thanks to some _subtle_ persuasion from Gateau they were inside a house and not out in the dark streets. On the other hand, it was quite crowded in this small room and he didn't know how much longer everyone could behave themselves. Or sit without be cramped. _Poor Gateau._

Carrot giggled. "Man, I am never going to forget the look on Porky's face when Gateau smashed his fist into the wall."

"I still think it was a bit much." Tira, sitting on the floor, leaned back into the blanket hanging off the bed. "But then again, he was being unreasonable."

"I agree. What type of a jerk doesn't let people in out of the cold?"

"A fat jerk who called my Darling an idiot!"

"Chocolat! Knock it off! There are kids here!"

"Oh, he's old enough!"

"Sister!"

Much like Marron, Harry was keeping his mouth shut and doing his best to ignore the others. That red headed girl, Chocolat, keep groping that boy Carrot and calling him 'Darling.' He was slightly unnerved at their behavior. Though, in all reality it was pretty funny to see Uncle Vernon and Petunia nearly wet themselves when the big muscle dude put a hole in the plaster. Dudley just fainted and that was priceless.

"So, Harry, is it?" Tira adjusted her glasses and looked up to the boy next to Marron. Chocolat and carrot seemed to be unconscious with developing bruises on their heads.

"Yes?"

"You said that you were a wizard. How come you don't have the mark on your forehead?"

"The mark?"

"Yeah," Carrot piped in after regaining consciousness. "I was wondering that myself."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." Harry shifted uncomfortably. They wouldn't do something like brand him would they? After seeing some of their weird habits he wouldn't put it past them.

"Where we're from, those born with the ability to use magic, sorcerers, have a birthmark that looks like an upside down triangle on their foreheads. It sets them apart from the parsoners." Marron's eyes fell on Harry's scar as he said this and couldn't help but notice it was an odd shape. He also felt a slight magic pulsing from it that was quite distracting.

"What's a parsoner?" Harry shifted slightly under the scrutinizing stare. Marron seemed like the intelligent one. He had yet to figure out if that made him scarier than the others because he knew what he was doing, or if the others were worse because they didn't.

"Someone who is born without the ability to use magic. They can learn if they so choose, but it's very difficult and tends to require the use of forbidden magic to do so." Marron shifted his gaze to Harry's eyes. "You have an interesting mark on your head yourself, if I may be so bold as to ask how you got it?"

"A wizard attacked me." Harry decided that was all they needed to know.

"Ah, that could explain the odd shape then. Magic does produce odd effects." Marron couldn't help but smile in Carrot's direction.

"Stop staring, Marron." Carrot huffed. "It's creepy."

"So, do you guys have marks that separate wizards from parsoners?" Chocolat claimed Carrot's arm again and ignored the indignant "Sister!" from Tira.

"There isn't a physical mark. Wizards can use magic and muggles can't." Harry shrugged.

"So a muggle is the equivalent of a parsoner here?" Gateau tried to stretch his shoulders a bit in the tight corner. "How are their relations with the sorcerers here?"

"Not quite, muggles can't learn magic at all." Harry shifted his legs beneath him on the bed. "And the relationship is non-existent. Very few muggles even know wizards exist, and those that do are the ones with wizards in the family or marry one on accident. Muggles aren't allowed to know magic exists. The ministry of magic takes great lengths to make sure they keep the two worlds separate from each other."

"Are you serious?" Carrot absently shook Chocolat off his arm again. "Parsoner's don't even know it exists?"

"That is quite the change." Marron nodded absently. "Harry, could you by chance get a cup of water? I'd go myself but I'd rather not make relations even worse with your family."

"Huh?" Harry wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but he'd give them the benefit of the doubt. They were odd, but they didn't seem evil. "Sure."

"So why'd you send the squirt out?" Gateau leaned against the door to make sure to give warning if he came back too quick. "I know you've got something on your mind."

"I think we should keep our occupations a secret from Harry." Marron stood and stretched for a bit.

"That sounds good." Tira scooted up and claimed Marron's seat to stretch her own legs out. "I don't think he'd react well to us being Sorcerer Hunters."

"That's what I was thinking. It doesn't seem as if they have the same issues we do when it comes to sorcerers abusing their power." Marron frowned at Tira and she slid back down to the floor.

"That and I still don't trust this situation." Gateau sighed. "No point in revealing our trump cards."

"That's very true, Gateau." Marron yawned.

"Tired?" Carrot leaned back. "Me too, all this waiting around for this Dumbledorf person is so boring!"

"Somehow, I feel like that's the wrong name."

"Ah, whatever."

"Yes, but we're all in agreement?" Marron's hair fell over his shoulder lightly.

"Yup, no complaints here." Carrot yawned himself. "But what do we do if they ask what we do for a living?"

"A modified version of the truth." Gateau smirked. "We're body guards or some other bit like that."

Tira laughed. "Yup, my sister and I sure fit that description at first glance, don't we?"

"Why don't we just say we do odd jobs?" Marron smiled. "That's true enough."

"Decided then, because the kid's coming back up." Gateau shifted his position just in time for the door to be opened again.

"Here's your water, Marron." Harry handed the smiling man the cup and sat back down on the bed.

"Thank-you very much, Harry. I was parched."

"Hey, kid." Carrot began. "How much longer 'till this Dumbledorf guy answers your letter?"

"It's Dumble_dore_ and he'll answer as soon as he gets the letter I'd imagine." Harry yawned. He hoped Dumbledore answered soon as well, he wasn't too sure if he felt save sleeping around these people yet. Just because he didn't think they were evil, didn't mean he felt completely safe around them. "He'll probably have answered at least by tomorrow morning."

"That seems like forever away." Carrot groaned and stretched out on the floor with what little room there was available. "And I should be tired, but I'm not. This sucks."

"Patience is a virtue, my brother."

"You always say that, Marron." Carrot rolled over and hit Tira with his foot. "It's not my fault you're better at it than me."

"If you'd practice you'd be better at it, Carrot." Smacking his foot away, Tira continued. "It wouldn't kill you, you know."

"Yeah, well." Carrot was interrupted by a large crash coming from downstairs.

"What was that?" Gateau was up on his feet and opening the door to hear the commotion better. "Sounds like screaming."

"Sounds like curses." Harry leapt to his feet and headed straight for his trunk hidden away in the closet. Opening it he searched for his wand frantically. "This isn't good."

"What's that?" Carrot was up on his feet and staring at the strange stick in Harry's hand.

"My wand." Harry headed out the door. "I'll need it to fight if who I think is down there really is. You stay up here and stay out of the way."

"Wait," Marron grabbed his arm and held him. "What's going on? Just from the sounds I know that it can't be safe for a teenager to handle on his own."

"There's only one group who'd be trying to kill me and you'd need magic to fight them."

"Who?"

"Hey, your Uncle and Aunt are running down the street. And the fat kid is trying to keep up with his mom."

"What did you say, Chocolat?" Harry went to the window to indeed see his biological family running down the street like chickens with their heads cut off. That only confirmed his suspicions. "No question, it's the Death Eaters."

"The what?" Gateau stared as Harry funny as he heard the commotion downstairs quiet. It was unnerving.

"Death Eaters are servants of Voldermort. They're evil wizards who work for the most evil man alive." Harry gripped his fists together. "He killed my parents, and my friend."

"Harry." Marron was about to place a hand to Harry's shoulder when he was interrupted.

"No time, those Death whatevers are heading up the stairs." Gateau flexed. "What do you guys want to do?"

"Nothing." Harry gripped his wand. "You don't need to get involved. You don't know how to defend yourselves so I'll handle it."

"Harry stop!" Gateau missed Harry by a hair as he sped past him and out the door. "Marron!"

"I know we said to keep our real jobs a secret not more than ten minutes ago," Marron removed about six ofunda from his sleeve. "But I feel that would be neglecting our duty to rid the world of sorcerers who abuse their power."

"I agree completely, Marron." Chocolat laughed. "Let's show these boys just who isn't prepared."

"Let's do it!" Tira shouted and grabbed Carrot.

While the team had made up their minds of breaking their little secret much too quickly, Harry had his hands full. Due to his size and speed he managed to even the playing field and get the Death Eaters to chase him out into the yard where there was more room to cast spells. It made him more open, but it was better than knocking into furniture and not being able to see. Not to mention the last thing he needed was thirty or so Death Eaters getting him in a corner and firing at once. The glaring skulls glared at him as he prepared his wand for battle. "Stupefy!"

A barrier easily countered the red light and the Death Eaters laughed. The leader strode foreword to mock the boy. "Is that the best little Harry Potter can do?"

"It's the best he needs to do."

The group of snake flunkies all turned at the new voice to enter the playing field. Harry too had his eyes stuck on the group of strange people standing on his roof. "What are you doing? Go back inside!"

"No can do, Harry." Carrot pulled his sword out of its sheath. "Taking out the bad guys is our job."

"We're sorry to have misled you, Harry." Tira smirked and grabbed the tip of her cape. "But this is what we do."

"Yes," Marron's ofunda shined brightly. "This is what we live for."

"Wherever sorcerers abuse their magic we will always be there." Red hair gathered neatly into a black cap.

"Whenever those in need call for help, than these muscles will be there to answer." Gateau flexed at the prime moments.

"For we are none other than those legendary heroes of justice!" Carrot brandished his sword high.

In unison they shouted, "The Sorcerer Hunters!"

The Death Eaters laughed.

Harry nearly dropped his wand at the sight. These people weren't just lost and weird, they were crazy, too.

"I don't think they're taking us seriously, sister."

"I agree, Tira."

The Death Eaters stopped laughing when clothes were shed and the two girls jumped off the roof to stand before them. The one in the leather corset and thigh high boots with pink hair pulled out what looked to be like a spool of wire. The one that gathered the rest of attention was the red head in the hat sporting no more of a top than a pair of suspenders. The Death Eaters took a step back when the men jumped down behind to join the ladies, much too confused to do anything else.

"What should we do to them, sister?" Harry marveled at the drop in pitch of the whiny girl's voice.

"Kill them." The Death Eaters regained their footing at the seriousness of the tone.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Gateau led the charge to the dumbstruck Death Eaters.

Harry fell to the ground when this strange group of people began attacking. He felt sick when that Gateau stuck his hand through one of the masked men's stomach. The spell that was cast on him didn't even work properly; it was if it had bounced of his muscles. The girls weren't any better for his own stomach. Tira was strangling men with her thread while laughing and Chocolat was impaling people on metal twine. Even the Death Eaters that had managed to get a spell out, if they were fast enough, fell quickly enough when the spell was dodged or deflected. "How, how could they be this strong?"

Marron wanted to end this fight quickly before his brother was hit by a spell. He had no idea how this foreign magic would affect his zoanthrapy and they did not need a monster raging in a civilian area. Carrot would never forgive himself. A few of the robed men had gotten spells out but Carrot was able to dodge them, much to Marron's relief. "Guys! Get out of the way I'm taking them all out at once!"

"Sorry fellas'," Tira winked as she backed off and sprinted behind Marron. "But you heard the man."

Harry sat frozen to the spot on the opposite side of the yard behind the Death Eaters. These Sorcerer Hunters had taken out at least twelve with no trouble at all and now Marron wanted to take out the remaining fifteen on his own? It was too much.

"Hey, kiddo." Carrot had miraculously appeared behind Harry and he turned to look up at him. "Can't stay here or you'll get caught up in it, too."

Harry was unceremoniously yanked off of the ground and dragged to where the others were standing. He nearly tripped as his feet fumbled to hold onto the ground. Marron was putting his hands in odd positions and chanting something. When the huge flames of fire ripped from his posed hands, Harry felt as if he would faint. A huge phoenix rose forth and wiped the Death Eaters out in one swing. Fawkes would have been put to shame at the sight. The loyal minions were left twitching on the ground as the fight ended. There was no question of the victor and Harry truly felt as if he had been helping the bad guys.

"Hey guys." Carrot shook Harry's shoulder a bit, but it didn't register a reaction. "I think the kid's in shock."

"As he should be after witnessing such an act of violence."

"And who might you be?" Marron turned, ofuda raised and ready for action.

"Professor Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore watched these newcomers warily with his wand at the ready. He had only seen the black haired boy with the paper summon a phoenix, but the carnage on the ground was enough to tell the rest of the story. "And that, is my student."

"You're the guy he sent that owl too, right?" Carrot sheathed his sword. "Took you long enough to show up. We had our hands full."

"Enemies or not, you could show some respect young man and not kick the corpse."

"Hey, I can check if it's dead, can't I?" Carrot put his arms behind his head. "Make that mistake once and you learn to not do it again."

"I take it you disapprove of our methods?" Marron kept his gaze even. "In our defense, they were going to kill Harry."

"You don't need a degree to have seen that." Gateau crossed his arms as he stared down at the old man in the funny hat.

"It was overkill. If they would have lived we could have had them arrested and questioned." Dumbledore knelt down to pull a piece of chocolate out of his pocket and hand it to Harry. "Now the evidence is gone, Harry's seen more death than he should have ever had too, and I have to deal with you."

"We dealt with them the way we knew how." Tira rewound her spindle as she talked. "And believe me when I said we went easy on them."

"Yes, it wasn't nearly as bad as it couldn't have gotten." Chocolat sent a pointed look at her Darling. "It could have been a lot messier, and fun."

"I see nothing fun about death. Harry, are you alright?"

Harry slowly tilted his head up when he was addressed. He barely recognized that he had a piece of chocolate in his hand. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little stunned, I didn't think you could fight wizards without magic and be effective."

"Sorcerers are human, just like everyone else." Marron relaxed his attack, it didn't seem as if Dumbledore was going to start anything. Not at least with Harry around. "They feel a punch just like anyone else, they just have little spells to give them a head jump."

"Speaking," Dumbledore stood and brought Harry to his feet as well. "In the letter, Harry described that you five could not use magic. What exactly was it then that you used, young man, when you summoned the phoenix?"

"My name is Marron, and correct, I was born without the ability to use magic." Marron pocketed his ofunda snugly in their places within his robes. "However, I trained diligently and learned a great deal of Eastern Magic to use at my disposal."

"I didn't find out until after I sent the letter, Professor." Harry started to calm down when everyone else relaxed as well. Seeing their calm faces he almost forgot the corpses strewn about him, still smoldering. "But in their world, muggles can learn magic if they want."

"That is unique." Dumbledore put his own wand away. There had been enough fighting for today, and he had a problem to sort out. "Where exactly are you all from? I know how you got here from the letter, but none of the specifics about your background."

"We're from the Spooner Continent." Tira replaced her glasses and cape discretely and with a wave of her hand got Chocolat to take off her hat and put on some clothes.

"And what exactly is it that you do, that would make this carnage a natural way to handle a problem?"

"We're sorcerer hunters." Gateau would not be intimidated. "It's our job to take out sorcerers who abuse their power over the parsoners."

"And who are you to decide who is abusing power?"

"Big Mama, head of the Stella Church, and one closest to God makes the decisions." Chocolat shook out her hair. "And we check it out for ourselves. It'd make you sick some of the things we've seen."

"Everything from slavery, to kidnapping, to torture." Tira growled. "It's disgusting and the parsoners can't defend themselves because they can't fight against the magic."

"A self appointed team of justice, then."

"Hey," Gateau stood foreword. "If we weren't there, than nothing would be there to stop it. Everyone would suffer and the Spell Wars would start again. This ministry that handles problems you keep talking about doesn't exist."

Marron muttered under his breath, "or sound that different from us."

"The spell wars?"

"A thing of the past." Marron intervened before someone lost their cool. "But if it appeases a little, we don't just handle sorcerers. We also handle parsoners who have gotten their hands on forbidden magic."

Dumbledore shifted his glasses. Where they talking about the three unforgivable curses? Or at least the equivalent from wherever they're from? "Forbidden magic?"

"Spells, potions, and books that are forbidden to be used by both sorcerers and parsoners. Usually leftovers from the Spell Wars that either have devastating effects, or require unforgivable sacrifices to work." Marron covered a yawn. He was getting exhausted.

"It seems it is later than I had expected." Dumbledore noticed Harry had been unusually quiet. "Why don't we all head somewhere less in the open and discuss this situation further."

"What about all of these guys." Carrot popped his thumb next to his head to point behind him.

"I'll alert the ministry and tell them I have Harry in my custody." Dumbledore shifted through his robes looking for that port key. "Alright, everyone grab onto this."

"A pocket watch?" Carrot poked it.

"It's a port key, it'll transport us to Hogwarts where we can discuss things in privacy."

Harry grabbed the key automatically and prepared for the worse. "It's a little weird, but it works alright."

"Okay."

The group took a hold of the key and felt the yanking sensation pull them out of this plane before they even had a chance to shout.


	3. Stairs Shouldn't Move

Chapter is a little short, but that's okay because we're getting to the good stuff in Chapter Four!

Thank-you so much everyone for reading! And Especially those who have reviewed. So thank-you: Shiver (I'll take your advice into consideration…it does seem to be working well. My poor poor other fics.), Dairokkan, Aya-Shoru, TheLadyG (I love your YYHxHP Crossover!)! Your reviews have made me day and I'm glad this fic is being enjoyed. So, on that note I hope you all enjoy the next chapter!

**Part 3. Stairs Shouldn't Move.**

"What the hell was that?" Carrot held his head gingerly after it's brief, yet hard, encounter with the floor. "Felt like Tira whipping me, only in a condensed bit of time."

Harry giggled a bit at the groans, he was a little sore himself, but he'd gotten used to it. "Quite a rush, isn't it?"

"It's something alright." Tira rustled her cloak and pulled it down across her legs where it belonged.

Marron took in the sights slowly. They were in what looked like a giant dining room filled with a main table, and four long tables. Marron shivered, the place reeked of magic, and he could feel it brushing against him. The emptiness of the hall didn't help. Their every movement echoed loudly throughout the hall, not a step was heard in anything but stereo. His eyes lingered on some decorative tapestries hanging from the ceiling before looking fully up. The ceiling made him gasp aloud. "By, Stella."

"What'cha looking at, Marron?" Carrot poked his little brother in the shoulder. Seeing a slender hand point upwards, Carrot's eyes naturally followed. "Holy shit! Would you look at that!"

"Magic ceiling." Harry smiled. "Changes everyday and with the weather. It gets everyone's attention the first time, but you get used to it."

"Yes, the castle is lovely, but we have more important things to attend to." Dumbledore waved his wand and a small house elf appeared. "Please fix our guests a snack."

"What's that?" Chocolat walked over to the strange creature wearing a potato sack.

"This is a House Elf, they live to serve. Now, all of you take a seat while I contact the ministry." Dumbledore started walking towards the end of the hallway. "Harry, come with me, please. The ministry might have questions for you."

Chocolat merely poked at the house elf before it batted her hand away and disappeared. She huffed and turned her attention back towards the others.

"Yes, sir." The boy who lived took up his stride so he caught up with his professor quickly. "See you guys later!"

Gateau watched the boy wave and the door shut before taking a seat on the closest bench. "He sure seems chipper for someone who was in shock a few minutes ago."

"He's probably blocked it from his mind, or gets over things quickly." Tira adjusted her glasses and plopped down on an opposing bench.

"I don't like this," Carrot opted to sit on the table instead and rest his feet on the bench. He felt tired and fiddled with Mr. Melody's ears between his fingers. "Being left alone with someone we don't know, I mean."

"I agree, Brother." Marron settled next to Carrot's feet and leaned to the side against his knees. He was feeling exhausted for some reason. "But what other choice do we have right now?"

Chocolat had returned to looking at the ceiling and remained standing. "Marron's got a point."

"Doesn't bode well for the situation though," Carrot wiped sweat off his forehead.

"I agree." Tira stole a glance at Marron before continuing. "I'm also worried about Big Mama. She doesn't know where we are."

"Maybe Daughter can poof to us like she always does and give us a lift home." Carrot tried to carry his usual joking tone, but he just couldn't pull it off. His side began to hurt a little and he rested his head on his hand.

"Hey, Carrot." Gateau looked at the girl-crazy member of the team. "You okay? You're not looking so hot, worse than usual I mean."

"Ha ha, but yeah." Carrot shivered. "I'm not feeling too good, almost like I'm being smothered or something. It's warm in here."

"Darling?" Chocolat wandered over to feel his forehead. "It does feel warm."

"Can you describe it in more detail, Carrot?" Tira joined her sister in taking a closer look. Carrot really was starting to look pale and the sweating was getting worse by the minute. He held his sides tighter and doubled over slightly.

Carrot swallowed. "It's hard to describe, it feels like I'm going to get ripped apart from the inside. Almost feels like my body wants to transform but there's not enough kick to do it."

"That's odd." Chocolat slid her hand in his hair. "No one's used any magic on you. Maybe it was from that trip?"

"I don't think so. A jolt like that would have transformed him on the spot if it was going to do it, or at the very least a half-way transformation like that one time with the magic arrow."

"Maybe you're right, Tira. But what's causing this to my Darling?"

"That's it!" Marron stood abruptly and pulled out an ofuda. He didn't know why he didn't realize it sooner when Carrot first mentioned transforming. "The air here is saturated in magic! You're absorbing it slowly and your body doesn't have enough to complete a transformation in part or in full. It's stressing out."

Carrot shuttered and had to shake his head to clear it. "I guess I'll take that as an answer. Man this sucks."

"Brother." Marron refused to watch his brother suffer. His shoulders were shaking and little rivers were forming down his face from the fever developing at an alarming rate. At the slightly pained cry he took to action. "This should help."

Gateau sat back and watched Chocolat squirm and Tira blush as Carrot's shirt was quickly pulled over his head. He watched as Marron used his beautiful hands to set his less than attractive older brother's shirt on the table before going back to his patient. Carrot continued to shiver and Marron pulled out some ofuda and a brush with ink. It still baffled Gateau where Marron kept everything. A few wards delicately applied later and Carrot fell back against the table and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So much better." Carrot sighed. The paper ofunda crinkled beneath him and the paint was itchy, but the pain was gone and that's all that matters. "Thanks, little Bro."

"No problem, Brother." Marron smiled and reclaimed his seat. Took a moment to double check his wards and found himself staring at Mr. Melody. The stuffed rabbit seemed to fit his brother for some reason. "The ofunda should be absorbing the magic in the air. It's exactly the same as when you transform and we turn you back, only slower. I'll have to replace the seals though every couple of days, or every day depending on how bad they get."

"If it keeps me from feeling like that again, than it's not a problem." Carrot leaned up to put his shirt back on. "It would really suck if I felt like that until I just exploded and transformed."

"For you and everyone else." Gateau stood. "The castle looks sturdy, but we've seen lesser ones crumble to you."

"Yeah," Carrot smiled softly for once. "That's the Destruction God for you, right?"

"Man, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, I know." Carrot laughed. "Man it's fun giv'in you guys a guilt trip!"

"Jerk."

------

"I'm going to be honest with you, Harry." Dumbledore gently stroked Fawkes' neck. "I'm not quite sure what to do with these people."

"You don't believe them?" Harry sat on the steps at the front of Dumbledore's office. It felt a little weird being in the school during the summer, still. He wondered if any of the other teachers were here. "They do seem a bit strange, and violent, but I don't feel anything evil from them. They just seem, eccentric."

"I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt." He paused. "But, with Voldermort's return and the Death Eater attack on your house, it still has me concerned."

"You think that they're Death Eaters? They seem too wild for someone like Voldermort to put up with them. That and they keep talking about this 'Big Mama.'"

"I might be inclined to think that way as well, the evidence does seem to agree that they have no relation to the man."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

Dumbledore's tone was considering when he continued again, Fawkes now forgotten. "If they were sent to kill you, I feel they would have done it already. They've had ample time to do it, as well as opportunity."

"That and they killed about thirty of their own guys, if that was the case."

"Very true, but I feel it would have been a small price to pay for Voldermort. If you remember, no one there was high ranking or I feel I would have recognized them."

Harry sighed. "That's true, but still. Why would they have helped me? What would Voldermort want that didn't involve killing me?"

"Yes well, I'm not sure, but we should do well to watch them." Dumbledore looked at the sleeping portraits on his walls. Wished they were awake to give him guidance.

"What are you going to do with them, Professor?" Harry stood now and fought back a yawn. It had to be at least three or four in the morning by now.

"Keep them here, I guess." The old wizard turned. "As well as you, I'm concerned for your safety as well."

"Not like I'd want to finish out the summer with the Dursleys anyway." Harry paused. "Hey, what are you going to do with them once school starts in a couple weeks?"

The old man got a devious twinkle. "Make them work of course. Everyone knows you've got to earn your keep."

Harry stared and wondered what the heck he'd do with them. That and his professor got way too cherry way too fast. "Make them students or just cleaning staff? I don't think the House Elves would approve of someone stealing their jobs."

"You got it right the first time. Students, if they can learn magic as they say, I see no reason why they shouldn't make themselves cultured and useful."

"That seems trusting," Harry paused. "If you don't mind me saying so, after all you said you didn't."

"It will let me keep a very close eye on them. We'll see if they're truthful or just very good actors."

"Oh, you mean watching them in lessons and seeing how well or poorly they do?"

"Exactly."

------

"We're going to be what?" Carrot shot up from his comfortable position lying on the table when Dumbledore had returned. He absently scratched at an ofunda on his side, shirt still forgotten.

"You're going to be students here at my school in two weeks until I can figure out how to send you home."

"And why should we do that?" Gateau was not amused by this development.

"I'd think you'd jump at the chance to add skills to your repertoire, being warriors as yourself." Dumbledore could be persuasive.

Gateau glared. "The skills we have prove to be quite adequate."

"Calm down, Gateau." Marron put his hand on Gateau's tensing biceps. He didn't remove it until the arm completely relaxed. Gateau kept his tongue to himself.

"Well, it's not like we have anything else to do." Chocolat crossed her legs and played with Carrot's pant leg with a free hand. Ignored him when he brushed it out. "Could be fun."

Marron felt his face pull into a frown and looked around behind Dumbledore. "What happened to Harry, by the way?"

"He's already retired to his room." Dumbledore smiled. "I've got beds for you five as well once this discussion has ended."

"That sounds nice." Tira was muffled by her yawn.

"Something on your mind, Mr. Glace, was it?" Dumbledore turned to the very pensive young man. The youth of this group surprised him; they couldn't be past their teens. "Even if you already know magic, it never hurts to learn more."

"It's not myself that is a concern. I'm wondering what will become of my brother while we're in classes."

"I'd assume he'd be attending as well."

"Absolutely not." Marron stood fiercely. "My brother will do no such thing!"

"Why not?" Dumbledore was slightly confused at this zealous reaction, even if it didn't show on his face.

Carrot pointed to the wards and secretly thought Dumbledore should have asked about them already. "Since you're putting us up and all, I guess you should know. I'm a zoanthrapist and the only thing keeping me from going crazy on everyone are these wards Marron made. I don't wanna' risk more by being in a classroom full of magic spells."

"What's a zoanthrapist?" Dumbledore's spectacles caught a bit of light filtering in from the windows. Curiosity really was one of his downfalls.

"Think of my body as like a sponge for magic, when I get too much my body uses the twelve animal signs within me to turn me into a giant monster with a shape depending on the magic used. So when you use a spell on me I absorb it and transform."

"He becomes uncontrollable and lashes out at anything. I refuse to put my brother in a situation where he might hurt someone on accident."

"Then I guess he can assist Mr. Filch, since he is unable to use magic." Dumbledore smiled. "He's been asking for help, anyway. Now that that's settled, let's all hit the sack."

Gateau was pissed off that everyone was taking this so well. He didn't trust this man, and he didn't trust this situation one bit. He held his tongue because the group was exhausted and the concentrated magic in the air was starting to get to even his senses. A good nights rest would do them all good and they could think more clearly the next morning. Or at least figure out some way out of this mess.

"I feel like we agreed to something without actually discussing it." Tira mumbled to herself as she followed the moving line.

"I agree, but not much we can do at the moment." Marron snuck a look at his brother. "We're all about to drop."

"Stop looking at me like that, Marron." Carrot ruffled his hair. "I'm fine."

The yawn he couldn't contain seemed to disagree with his brother and made Marron smile. He could forgive having his hair frazzled. "How far are the rooms?"

"Just up the stairs. I'm sticking you in the Gryffindor dorms for now, but you'll get your own rooms once you've been sorted for classes."

"Sorted?" Chocolat fought back her own yawn. "What's that?"

"I'll explain when I take you all out for supplies and necessities. Right now I think it's best if we all sleep. Watch out for the staircase, by the way, they like to move." Dumbledore then lead the group up the nearest staircase.

Carrot had stopped for a moment to stare at a painting on the wall as the others transcended the staircase. If he looked close enough it looked like the person in the painting was breathing. But that was absurd, there was no way that it could be doing that. He poked the painting and jumped nearly a foot when the figure in the picture woke with a start and glared at him.

"What's the big idea?" The stuffy gentlemen in the Victorian garb shook his head. "I was sleeping."

"Stella, you can talk!" Carrot stared at the man and wondered how it worked. "How can you do that?"

"Magic you fool. Now let me sleep!"

"Jeez, fine. You don't have to get so upset over it."

As Carrot let the painting be he realized the others had already finished climbing the stairs and were in the hallway. He started his way up the stairs to follow them. "Hey wait up!"

"Brother, stop dawdling."

"Yeah, yeah…woah!" Carrot gripped the handrail like a lifeline when the stair gave a startled jump and started moving slowly to the right. "What the hell!"

"Brother!" Marron watched as the staircase settled on a ledge that was on the opposite side from the rest of the group. Carrot had scrambled off the staircase the moment it had stopped.

"What's the deal with that?" Carrot breathed heavily as he stepped off the evil staircase. "And how do I get over there?"

"I did warn you that they moved, Mr. Glace." Dumbledore smiled. "Get back on the staircase and I'll have it bring you over."

Carrot studied him for a moment before gently easing himself back onto the top step and grabbed the railing. "Hurry up!"

"Mr. Staircase, could you please bring the young man who doesn't seem to know how to listen or keep up back over here?"

"Creepy old man." Carrot grumbled as the staircase pulled him back over to the others. He jumped off the moment it stopped. "Staircases shouldn't move."

"Ah, but it'd be boring if they always stayed still."

"Boring isn't always bad." Gateau leaned on a wall during this short break. "It means nothing's wrong."

"Yes, well." Dumbledore smiled. "I think you'll find there is always something wrong in the world."

"Which is why we never catch a break."

"I see."

"Can we just go to our rooms?" Chocolat had bags developing under her eyes. "I'm so tired I don't think I even have the energy to try and sneak into Carrot's bed."

"Sister!"

"Leave it." Gateau broke from the wall. "It's too late for this crap."

"Early you mean." Marron couldn't help the little jab.

"Sometimes I don't know why I'm so crazy about you, Marron."

"I thought it was because I'm beautiful?" Marron rolled his eyes.

"That, too."

"Okay! Okay, knock it off. It's creepy when you two talk like that." Carrot got between his two comrades and pointed at the old man. "Can we please just get going?"

"I wasn't the one lagging behind." Dumbledore laughed. The group was so different from when he first encountered them. There was so much life dancing behind all of their eyes it was hard to imagine them as Death Eaters. "Come on then."

About five minutes later and they all stood before the portrait of The Fat Lady. Dumbledore whispered the password as to not wake her and the painting opened from the wall. By this point the Hunters had reverted to zombie form and all put collapsed in the first year dorm he showed them to. Despite his request, however, Tira and Chocolat refused to be relocated in the girl's section. He relented when he realized that the group probably didn't trust _him_ yet. The thought of people not trusting him was so foreign it nearly made him laugh.

"Tomorrow we'll get supplies all sorted out and I'll show you around." Dumbledore watched the tired eyes falling. "And we'll repeat the discussion since we're not in the best of spirits right now."

"Just don't get us up until after eight hours." Carrot fell over onto the bed. "I refuse to get up before then."

"I second that motion." Gateau made an attempt to fit on the small bed. While he was gorgeous and the epitome of male beauty (save for maybe Marron) his large size sometimes made finding a comfortable position difficult. He yelped when a light hit the bed and it grew a size. He glared at the old man who waved his wand and eyes twinkling. "Thanks."

"Welcome." When Dumbledore had seen the two girls passed out as well as Carrot he turned to Marron since Gateau was determined to shut him out with the bed curtain. "Good rest, Mr. Glace."

"Yes, we'll see." Marron pulled his own curtain shut and was asleep the moment the head hit the pillow.

As Dumbledore closed the door he could only think about what an interesting day tomorrow would be.


	4. The Wand Chooses the Hunter

I'm so glad that people are enjoying this fic so far! It's become the fav at the moment and just keeps flowing. Hopefully these regular updates can continue. So, enjoy chapter three and thanks for reading! (And praise to anyone who gets the name reference with Tira and Chocolat's kitten. )

**Part 4. The Wand Chooses the Hunter.**

No one should have to be up at this ungodly hour of the morning. It was inhumane, that's what it was. His feet trudged their way down the long corridor following the others. How could they be so awake and chipper? He'd never understand them. It really was too early for anything, he wondered if he could go back to bed when not being distracted by the moving paintings.

"Stop dragging your feet Carrot, it's two in the afternoon." Tira smacked Carrot upside the head to knock him on the floor.

"We got to bed at four in the morning!" Carrot dragged himself off the floor and fought the urge to scratch the wards beneath his shirt. They were still a little wet and tickled his skin.

"That's over eight hours, Brother." Marron smiled. "And stop picking at those wards!"

"Where are we going, again?" Chocolat played with her hair. "You already explained this house stuff, but I'm still fuzzy on what we're doing now."

"We're getting school supplies for the year." Harry was walking with the group. It was a bit of a shock to wake up and find them in his common room this morning.

"At that Diakan Alley place?" Carrot yawned.

"Dia_gon_, and if we're going there the way I think we are you need to pronounce it right." Harry sighed. He hated Floo Powder, but he had a sneaking suspicion that's how they'd get there. It was in his gut.

"And how exactly do you think we're going to get there?" Marron was absently pulling a knot out of his hair. He couldn't find a hairbrush in this place anywhere. Magic solves everything, indeed.

"Probably Floo Powder, but Dumbledore might have something else for us." Harry pushed open the hall doors. "He said to meet him in the Main Hall for lunch and then he'd take us."

"How are we going to pay for supplies?" Tira commented absently. "We don't have any money."

"Or a way to pick up our pay checks." Chocolat grumbled under her breath.

"I'll be covering your expenses under the guise of a scholarship." Dumbledore smiled as he watched the group enter. "Now, please have a seat. Dobby and the others have made something really good for us today since Harry came back early."

"Who's Dobby?" Carrot plopped into his seat as far from the old man as he could get.

"Long story. House Elf." Harry sat next to Carrot much to the girls' dismay. "This looks good."

"That it does!" Chocolat jumped onto the bench across from Carrot and started piling the food before them on her plate. "Though, not as good as my Darling."

"Sister!" Tira paused in taking her own seat to yell. Sometimes her sister was too much, but she found herself sitting next to her anyway. "Oh, are those sausages?"

Marron sat down on the other side of his brother and quietly starting putting food on his plate. He didn't get as much sleep last night as he had hoped. He was out for about an hour before he woke up again in a sweat. It was either a nightmare or his own reaction to the magical castle. In any case, he estimated he got around five hours of sleep total and he doubted eggs and pancakes would help him feel much better. But it seemed to be doing wonders for his brother. "If you eat too much of that you're going to get sick, Brother."

Muffled by the food in his mouth, Carrot simply responded, "You worry too much."

"Not seeing anything at suits you, Mr. Mocha?" Dumbledore stirred a little cream into his tea. "If you've got something specific, we might be able to whip it up for you."

"Not hungry." Gateau merely poured some juice into a cup and drank from his seat next to Marron. While that was good, he was sitting closest to the old man, which was not so good. "Besides, all these fatty foods would be murder on my perfect figure."

"I see." Dumbledore sipped quietly. "I believe Harry has informed you about your trip to Diagon Alley?"

"More or less." Carrot spoke between bites of a muffin. "Man these are good!"

"I'm sorry I won't be joining you, but I've got some issues to work out with some professors, today."

"Understandable. What type of supplies will we be acquiring, Harry?" Marron nibbled at a strip of bacon.

"Cauldrons, parchment, quills and ink, textbooks, wands," Harry paused in his answer. "And a pet too, if you want one."

"A pet?" Tira tilted her head.

"It's not unheard of for students to have pets. Owls, Cats, and Toads are permitted." Dumbledore set his cup down. "I'd suggest at least one of you gets an owl so you have a way to send mail. Though we do have owls available for use if you find you just have to have a cat or toad."

"Are owls the only birds that deliver mail?" Marron wrinkled his nose at the thought of owning an owl. He'd much prefer a sleeker, more elegant bird.

"It's the most conventional and accepted method."

"It seems inefficient if you ask me." Gateau snuck a bite from a piece of toast. "Wouldn't just transporting the letters work faster if you've got magic?"

"Ah, but what if you're a child and haven't learned yet?" Dumbledore smiled. "But in any case, they work quite well."

"That and who would we send letters to?" Gateau leaned on his elbow. "This spell stuff just seems annoying."

"Not everything is done with spells. Enchanted objects, potions, and stuff are around too. Like broomsticks." Harry gulped down some pumpkin juice.

"Broomsticks?" Carrot paused in his eating.

"People actually ride those here?" Chocolat snitched a muffin off his plate. How dare Darling take the last blueberry muffin! "Like in the folk stories about witches?"

"Yeah!" And a necessity if you want to play Quidditch!" Harry couldn't hide the grin. "And before you ask, it's the best sport in the Wizard World!"

"Flying lessons are a requirement in the curriculum, and while first years aren't permitted to have brooms, I feel I can make an exception for you all due to your ages." Dumbledore smiled.

"I may have to consider that." Marron smiled around a sip of piping hot tea. Flying with the birds sounded quite pleasant. Maybe his brother would enjoy it as well.

"If man were meant to fly, he'd have wings." Gateau openly ate some bits of eggs now and attempted to avoid the old man's smiling gaze.

"Ah, would you prefer I give you wings?" Dumbledore chuckled. "I've got a spell for that somewhere."

Gateau choked on his mouthful. "Don't you dare point that thing at me."

"I was joking, Mr. Mocha." Dumbledore smiled warmly. "But you will be taking flying lessons whether or not you choose to own a broom."

"What I want to know is when you're going to work on getting us home." Gateau muttered beneath is breath.

"Are you planning owning one, Brother?" Marron changed subjects before things could get too heated. Getting home was concern, but they should get in good with the sorcerers before making demands.

"Sure, why not?" Carrot shrugged.

"Well, then." Dumbledore stood. "Let's get you kids off."

------

"Yeouch!"

All heads in the room turned to the soot covered man in the green tank top cursing at the top of his lungs. A sword at his side rattled loudly as he flailed his arms about. This strange man continued his cursing the fireplace to hell and back when two girls followed him out and started coughing. A man in a white robe (though it looked more grey at the moment) and a tall muscled blonde gentleman followed more calmly. Eventually the growing audience shook their heads at the Floo Powder newbies and walked on with their business.

As Harry followed Gateau out of the fireplace he noticed Carrot nursing his head and shaking his fist. "At least you got to the right spot. The first time I used Floo Powder I went to the wrong alley."

"I don't care!" Carrot tried to rub off all the soot. "When I get my hands on that old coot I'm really going to sock him one!"

"Brother!" Marron grabbed Carrot's hands. "Let me do it, you're going to rub the wards off and I just replaced them."

"Fine." Carrot mumbled. "Just don't be so doting, we're in public you know."

Marron blushed and gently brushed soot off his big brother's shoulder. "I'm not being doting."

"Yeah, I know." Carrot smiled. "Just teasing you."

"Brother." Marron straightened and leaned up next to Carrot's ear, making it seem like he was getting the soot out of his hair. "Also, be careful here as there's much more active magic floating about."

"Don't have to tell me twice, little bro." Carrot shoved him away. "All clean now."

"Of course." Marron turned to the others. "Harry, do you have the list of supplies Dumbledore gave us?"

"Yeah." Harry pulled it out. "Everyone's got the same supplies, save for Carrot who just gets a wand and a broom."

"That's rather convenient." Gateau lifted an eyebrow.

"It's because you're all in the same grade." Harry frowned. "Though it's going to suck being as old as you all are and stuck in first year classes."

"What do you mean?" Tira shifted her glasses as they all shifted out into the street to not block the doorways.

"First years are all eleven years old." Harry tilted his head. "How old are you guys, anyway?"

"Me and Chocolat are eighteen, Gateau's seventeen, and Marron and Tira are fifteen." Carrot responded absently.

"Marron's the same age as me?" Harry's eyes got wide and stared at the boy with endless black hair. "And Carrot's the _older_ brother?"

"Don't look so surprised." Carrot mumbled. "It's not funny, Marron!"

"Of course not." Marron gave a beautiful smile while his elegant laugh carried around him and gained some unwanted attention. At the sounds of giggling he shuttered. This would not end well.

"Check out all the sorcerer babes!" Carrot howled. "I know where I'm headed!"

"Darling!"

"Carrot!"

Harry stared as Carrot was shackled and tied to a rope by two very angry females. Sequentially they seemed to be beating the snot out of him. He snuck a look to the side at Marron and Gateau to see if this was normal. By the grin on Gateau's face and the tears starting to flow from Marron's eyes he assumed a yes.

"Brother." Marron sniffed. It wasn't fair, all Carrot wanted to do was have some fun, and get into trouble he reminded himself somewhere, and they beat him up!

"Serves the idiot right." Gateau shrugged. "After all, what girl would want to look at him when they could _look at me!_"

"Do forgive them, Harry." Marron cringed as Gateau posed shirtless in the middle of the street. Over half the walking traffic in the alley stopped to stare. They were gaining quite the crowd and he was cringing at all the looks he himself was getting from the ladies, and obligatory gentlemen who thought he was a woman. "They're always like this."

"Really, now."

"Hanging out with freaks again, Potter?"

Marron turned to face a greasy young man about Harry's age with slicked blonde hair. By the way Harry tensed he assumed this was not a friend. "And who might you be?"

"What?" Malfoy took a second look at the girl, correction: man, Potter was standing with. "You're a boy?"

"Yes he's a boy, can't you see?" Harry glared. "Now leave us alone, Malfoy."

"Gladly," Malfoy turned his nose up. "Like I'd want to be around you anyway, or your freaky friends."

Marron barely restrained himself from sticking a little goblin ofunda on the back of his head. "What a revolting young man."

"Malfoy." Harry huffed. "Bad news, him and his whole family."

"Understood." Marron turned back to his struggling brother and camera happy friend. "Now for this little problem."

The little problem took about an hour to sort out and it was only then that Carrot promised to stay with the group, which contented the two sisters, and Gateau promised to keep his shirt on. Though, Marron refused to ever speak about what he had to do to get the man to cooperate again. Gateau would have a phoenix down his throat if he even dared bring it up. About two hours after that, Harry had gotten money out of the bank (surprisingly enough, the Goblins running the bank didn't phase the hunters), all of the textbooks, cauldrons, quills and parchment, and even robes struck off the list with minimal trouble. Save for the few lingering looks at the strange group that had been wandering the alley, it had been quiet nice.

"Okay, up next is Quality Quidditch Supplies to get brooms." Harry smiled. "Dumbledore gave a budget so you could each get a Nimbus 2001."

"Neat." Carrot crossed his arms and nearly whistled. He was surprised he hadn't had any close calls with magic so far. Must have been his lucky day, today. He was still grinning at the sight of Marron in a girl's uniform, though. Since all the changing was done with magic that Malkin lady wasn't paying attention, she never noticed she assigned Marron the wrong uniform. Well, she noticed when he stated shouting at her and desperately pulling the skirt down over his knees. Seeing Gateau turn pink and flustered was also slightly amusing, if not creepy. Carrot had gotten out of the uniform since he wasn't participating in classes. Score one for the love machine.

The brooms were bought and packaged and Gateau volunteered to carry most of the heavier bags with the brooms. Afterwards, they headed over to Magical Menagerie to look for pets. Tira and Chocolat decided on getting a kitten to share and keep them company. It was a cute little thing with black fur and big brown eyes. They were calling it Daucus Carota, Caro for short. Gateau chose to stay away from the pets, as did Carrot. Carrot jokingly said he was enough of an animal all on his own. Harry didn't seem to get the joke when the others giggled.

"Are you getting a pet, Marron?"

"I might, Brother."

"Why don't you get an owl?" Carrot shrugged. "You like birds."

Marron smiled and browsed through the cages at the pet shop and blocked out the girls cooing over little Caro in the corner. Gateau refused to go into the shop and stood sentry just outside and kicked at the cages on the ground. He pushed some of his long hair behind his ear and absently thought of tying it back. While looking, a tiny pair of blue eyes caught his attention. A tiny pair of blue eyes attached to a fluffy ball of speckled grey feathers. Sitting in the back was a little puff of an owl that couldn't have been larger than Gateau's hand. He couldn't help but pick the thing up.

"Looks like you found a cutie." Carrot poked the little bird in the side and watched it fluff up and open its wings.

Marron smiled. If his brother approved than there was no reason to be hesitant. "I think I'll take him."

"He looks like he's covered in dust with all those grey feathers and brown spots." Carrot patted the bird on the head and Marron laughed.

A few quick purchases later and Marron was walking down the streets with his bags and a small hand cage with little Dusty snuggled inside. Marron had chosen a nice little black cage with ornamental decorations along the base. It was just the right size to carry and hold Dusty comfortably. One last shop was on the agenda and Marron smiled at the lack of trouble that had happened today. They just might make it out unscathed just yet. Assuming picking up Wands was as easy as the rest of the trip, than it would be a piece of cake. Marron grinned as little Dusty fluffed his feathers, the bird was growing on him.

"Here we are, Ollivander's." Harry stopped at the shop and pushed open the door. "Be warned, he's a little creepy."

"How bad could he be?" Chocolat wandered into the room with her things and set them down. She watched her sister walk up and ring the bell.

"Hello, and Welcome." Ollivander appeared from behind the shelves. "You must be new wizards in the area, I don't remember any of you."

"Yes. They're here for their first wands." Harry supplied.

"Ah, Harry Potter. Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches. Good wand that." He nodded his head in agreement. "And first wand? At their age?"

"We're late starters." Tira blushed and looked off to the side.

"Just as well, just as well." Ollivander grabbed Tira's arm and pulled her to the center. "Name and hold out your wand arm."

"Tira Misu." She held out her whip arm accordingly, just assuming that's what he meant.

"Just a moment." The old man disappeared behind the shelves and came back with about four boxes. "Let's try this one shall we?"

Tira stared at the wand he shoved in her hand. "What do I do with it?"

"Give it a flick."

As instructed, Tira flicked the little brown twig and dropped it when half the boxes on the shelves flew in all directions.

"Not that one then." Ollivander turned and tried the second box. "Give this one a flick."

"Are you crazy?" Tira pointed at the mess. "Those are dangerous!"

"You just haven't found the right one, now give this a flick!"

Tira huffed and did as instructed. "Let me guess, not this one either?"

Ollivander coughed at the smoke in his face. "Right, then."

About twenty wands later Tira was surprised by a light green glow at the tip of the wand and she felt a rush much like when she used her Gaias. She smiled as he announced it Rosewood and unicorn tail hair, at eight and one half inches. She however frowned as she was rudely shoved out of the way and Chocolat was dragged in.

"Same, name and wand arm out."

"Chocolat Misu."

"A sister? Well, that should help pick one out!" Ollivander came back with a variety of Rosewood wands. "Try this one now."

Chocolat flicked the wand and immediately it began to glow a soft shade of red. "Wow, first try."

"Rosewood and dragon heartstring, nine inches." Ollivander nodded. "Next."

Marron shoved Gateau foreword or he would have never moved. "Go."

"Fine. Gateau Mocha." He flexed. "And it better not be anything girly."

"The wand picks the wizard, Mr. Mocha."

Gateau frowned as the old coot searched the shelves. Gateau turned out to be another unlucky case and went through about fifty wands before finding one that didn't shatter something. Number fifteen was the worst when it nearly shattered Dusty's cage. Marron did not look happy after that one. Gateau would have been maimed if Ollivander hadn't fixed the cage with his own wand and the bird been in tact. However, wand fifty-one was the winner at Yew and unicorn tail hair, twelve inches. It glowed a bright yellow to match Gateau's hair.

Marron was up next. "Marron Glace, and I might suggest something with a phoenix if it'll make it easier."

"And why is that, young man?" Ollivander was curious.

"It's my favorite and most reliable summon." Marron smiled.

"Ah, well, phoenix cores are quite rare, but we might have something."

Marron waited for some time before the man came back with a dusty old box from a far back shelf. It was handed to him gently and he gave it a flick. "Sorry, Brother."

"It's okay." Carrot twitched. "You missed by an inch."

Marron set the wand on the table and tried to ignore the smoking hole in the wall next to his brother's head. "Maybe too powerful."

"Agreed. This is the last wand I've got with a phoenix feather." Ollivander smiled. "So if your guess is right, then this better work."

"I'd bet that my guess is just fine." Marron flicked the wand with ease and smiled at the fiery red glow that came from the tip. "The holy bird could never disappoint me."

"Ebony and phoenix tail feather, 10 inches. Good choice."

"Guess that means it's my turn." Carrot wandered over next to his brother and held out his sword arm. "Carrot Glace, The Messenger of Love."

"Another sibling? Might as well try the other phoenix feather." Ollivander watched his front store window shatter over the cobbled street. "Or not."

It was well into two hours later and they still had not found a wand for Carrot. They were running out of wands at this rate. Ollivander was about to strangle this boy, but he refused to give up a challenge. "Come here, boy."

"What!" Carrot backed up a step. "It's not my fault none of them work."

Ollivander snatched Carrot's chin and looked deep into his eyes. "There's something special about you, boy."

"Dude, you're hurting my face." Carrot squirmed under the death grip.

"We'll try it." He ignored the boy falling on his bum when released and walked to the back of the store. "Why not, we'll try it."

"Try what?" Carrot watched the man hobble to a side corner covered in an inch coat of dust.

"This wand, was a request." The old hands pulled the box down and were showered in the aged dirt. "But it rejected the wizard when it was finished quite fiercely."

"Can't hurt to give it a flick." Carrot stared at the black box as it was opened. "I hope."

Ollivander carefully handed the black wand to the boy and briefly re-admired his detailed carvings in the handle. He always thought the little vines were a nice touch up the length of the wand. No one had seen this wand out of its box for years, much to dangerous for first years. "Go ahead, flick it."

Carrot did as instructed and sucked in a tight breath when he felt the jolt of connection surge through every part of his body. The white light streaming from the glowing wand made a grin come to his face. There was so much energy flowing through him! "Is it a match or what?"

"My word, it worked." Ollivander studied the boy closely.

"What type of wand is that?" Marron asked what everyone else was thinking.

"Ebony, 10 inches, but with a very special core." Ollivander smirked. "A hair from a manticore's mane."

"Manticore?" Tira questioned and stared at Carrot's wand.

"Head of a man, body of a lion and a tail of the scorpian. Near impervious to most magic, untamable, and deadly. Quite the vicious creature and took quite a bit of effort to steal a hair, I'll tell you that." Ollivander smiled. "Never thought anyone could handle it."

Carrot's stomach dropped after he heard the description. It made a sick sort of sense why this wand would choose him. They were both freaks of nature. "That so."

"Brother." Marron put his hand on Carrot's shoulder. "It's a strong wand."

"Yeah." Carrot felt his face relax. "That's always a good thing, right?"

"Of course, Brother."

"Why don't we pay for these and head back now?" Harry walked to the counter and pulled out the bag of money Dumbledore had given him for Carrot and the others.

"That sounds good, Harry." Tira said softly.

"Yes, let's go back and get some dinner and some sleep." Marron looked out the window and noticed the sun was no longer up in the sky.


	5. The Sorting

And the fun really begins. I'm very glad that people are enjoying this so far and I hope you stick with me through the rest of it! I think this chapter went well and I hope the others follow through as well.

Also, the ages I've established in the fic are more or less guesses. I don't actually know how much older Carrot is than Marron, but from flashbacks in the Manga I feel it has to be at _least_ 3-4 years. And I'd assume Tira and Chocolat have a similar split. So, the ages aren't cannon, but hopefully close and they work well for what I'm doing.

Onward with part five! Enjoy & Thanks for reading!

**Part 5. The Sorting.**

The next few weeks went by remarkably without a hitch. Carrot spent most of his time talking with paintings and Marron followed, which led to Gateau following along with the girls for lack of anything better to do. Harry was amused that the group never seemed to really stray from each other. Their routines were even more amusing due to their predictability. Harry could almost count down to when Gateau would rip off his shirt and pose or when Marron would cry because his brother had gotten his head stuck in something or other while running from Chocolat. They had all adapted to Hogwarts life in record time, apparently it was wizards that bothered them more then magic.

The second amazing part was they had gotten along with the ghosts. Carrot and Nearly-headless Nick had had quite a few intriguing conversations about women and ghost women in the past few days. Marron had actually managed to scare Peeves with a threat of sending him on to the next plane after he had dropped a bag of flour on Carrot. All Marron had to do to get Peeves to fly away shrieking was pull out one of those strips of paper he always had with him. Harry had to remind himself to hang around with Marron more often. The girls had gotten along quite well with the Baron and his stories.

Despite all the trouble they caused in the not so peaceful times, he had fun hanging out with the group. He got to show them a few magic tricks and helped fill them in on the wizarding world so they didn't stand out too much. And since the Professors were either not at school yet or avoiding them, it was good to keep his mind off of other things. With Voldermort back and the death of Cedric, Harry hadn't been feeling too good over the summer. The guilt and fear for his friends had become slightly overwhelming until these five strangers dived into his life. He smiled at the thought of them joining him in school.

"Harry, are you ready to join your classmates when they get off the train? I'm assuming you'd like to come to the castle with them." Dumbledore smiled as he pulled Harry from his thoughts.

"What about us?" Carrot pulled at his collar. They had him dressed similarly to that Filch they had introduced him to at the beginning of the week. Apparently he was the caretaker or something and Carrot's new boss, so he therefore needed to look the part. It was a simple collared shirt with a rustic heavy coat draped over top and was quite classic apparently. Carrot just thought the outfit was a pain. Though, he giggled, not as much as the others stuck in the school uniforms. Gateau had complained about it affecting his image for about an hour after it was actually on him.

"I'll have you introduced separately after the regular sorting has begun." Dumbledore smiled. "Now, you all be good and wait in this side room until you're fetched."

"Sure." Chocolat adjusted her cloak. This school uniform was so constricting, though it did help flaunt her figure.

Harry smiled and followed Dumbledore out of the hall taking quick peaks at the group talking quietly behind him. A new school year was starting tonight and he couldn't wait to see his friends again. Dumbledore walked out to the courtyard and Harry followed loyally, apparently the train would be arriving in about an hour. Harry stopped dead when he reached the carriages meant for the upperclassmen waiting for permission to go and retrieve the students. His breathing stopped.

"Those are thestral, Harry." Dumbledore quieted. "They only appear to those who have seen death and that's all that needs to be said."

Harry felt the description fit the skeletal black horses. He shuttered involuntarily thinking of Cedric. He swallowed though and followed his Professor's lead when he opened a carriage door. He stepped in and listened to instructions of meeting up with his classmates when the train arrived and listened as the door clicked. The thought of seeing Ron and Hermione pushed away the dread that had settled in his gut.

The ride was quiet and ended just in time for the train to come to a halt at the school station. Harry smiled when he found a familiar red mop of hair in the crowd. "Ron!"

"Bloody hell! Harry!" Ron ran over to his friend and nearly tackled him. "We were scared something had happened to you! You never answered the letters, we didn't see you in Diagon, and you weren't on the train!"

"Sorry for scaring you, Ron." Harry stepped back. "A lot happened this past few weeks, but I'm okay."

"That's good." Ron smiled. "Any word from Padfoot over the summer?"

"Nothing more than usual." Harry looked around. "Where's Hermione?"

"Still talking with the other prefects."

"Why would she be with the other prefects?" Harry looked confused before noticing Ron's cloak.

"Me and Hermione are Gryffindor prefects this year. We tried to tell you, but you didn't get the letter apparently." Ron shrugged.

"That's great." Harry smothered the jealousy that sprouted. He should be happy for his friends. "That's really great, Ron."

Ron smiled. "Okay, so spill. What happened this summer?"

"Its' a long story." Harry wondered how he was going to get all the details right. Carrot and the others were quite the tag team.

"Not to long for a friend right?" Hermione gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze and accepted the hug when he turned around. "We were worried about you!"

"Ha ha, so Ron has told me." Harry smiled and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll tell you all about my summer when we get into the carriages."

"And you better not skimp on any details Harry Potter."

"Of course not, Hermione." Harry sighed. "That's why we're waiting for some privacy in the carriage compartments."

"Man it feels good to have everyone together again." Ron declared randomly and stretched. "Now let's get this year started!"

------

Carrot was bored out of his mind. They had been sitting in this side room for what seemed like hours. He blew out a breath and watched his bangs blow up from his eyes. Dumbledore had told them to wait for someone to get them while the other students filtered in. He fidgeted in his jacket and wished it were lighter. They had run out of things to discuss awhile ago. It was all the same stuff over and over again anyway: watch out for magic, don't cause trouble.

"Don't worry, Brother." Marron patted his elder sibling on the back. "I'm sure the ceremony will start soon."

"Yeah, but it's all so boring just waiting!"

"You're always bored, Carrot." Tira smiled and attempted to pull her skirt down. It was down to her knees but she still felt exposed.

"How are your wards holding out, Darling?" Chocolat was not so affected by wearing a short skirt. She was more peeved at how long it was more than anything.

"They're fine." Carrot poked one that peaked out from under the collar of his dress shirt under the jacket. "Marron replaced them just before we changed."

"They should hold until tonight, Brother." Marron swatted Carrot's hand away. "Now stop playing with them."

"Fine, fine. Good to know they'll hold though." Carrot stood up and paced. "I wish they'd get this party started already!"

"Wonderful, still a bunch of slackers." Filch eyed the group of teenagers hanging around in the room. Bunch of ingrates the lot of them.

Carrot looked up to the new voice in the room and stared at the greasy old man with the crooked teeth. "Hello again, Mr. Filch."

"Come boy, we're to be in the main hall with the teachers and keep an eye on the little brats."

"Right, right." Carrot adjusted his pants. "I remember, you told me all this crap yesterday."

"You don't look like the type to remember." Filch turned his eyes on the others. "And don't think because you're special means you can get away with breaking school rules!"

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir." Marron smiled cruelly. The man grated on his nerves.

"Alright then, McGonagall will be in for you brats later." Filch signaled for the boy to follow and headed back into the hallway where his cat waited. He turned to make sure the good for nothing kid was following him. He honestly couldn't understand what Dumbledore was thinking giving him a teenage hooligan for an assistant.

"You really don't have to be such a crank all the time, ya' know." Carrot yawned as he followed. "Wouldn't kill you to lighten up."

"Shush," Filch continued on and entered a side door to the main hall where the other professors were waiting. "You're under my wing now, so you're going to put up with it."

"Right." Carrot huffed. It was going to be a long school year if this is how things were shaping up.

"Glad you could join us, Mr. Glace." Dumbledore stopped his conversation with Snape briefly to address Carrot.

"Yup, pleasure to be here." Carrot shoved his hands in his newly acquired pockets. At least they let him keep his sword. Filch said it helped strike fear in the students or something like that.

"Don't worry, once the students get here everything should go by quickly and we can all eat and get some rest."

"Right." Carrot yawned. "Not that I've got much to worry about, it's my friends that have homework."

"Yes indeed, but so do you. Don't think you're getting out of private lessons." Dumbledore tilted his head. "Have I introduced the other professors to you yet?"

"Nope."

"Well, we should remedy that. This is Professor Snape, our potions master." Dumbledore gestured to the greasy black haired man standing next to him. "And Professor Snape, this is Carrot Glace, Mr. Filch's new assistant."

"Charmed." Snape rolled his eyes. Now the senile old man was hiring children, things really couldn't get any worse. Snape thought of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor arriving tomorrow. No things could get worse, easily.

"Nice to meet you, too." Carrot was getting the impression the entire staff was made of greasy haired jerks. He barely registered the other names as they were introduced. He nodded accordingly.

"Oh, the students seem to be coming." Dumbledore waved Filch and Carrot towards the main doors to monitor the students entering. "Everyone let's have a seat."

Carrot watched as the students filtered in through the doors and waved when he saw Harry. Harry waved back and pointed to Carrot when a red head and a cute little brunette nudged him. Seemed Harry got along well with the ladies if that little dish was anything to be seen. Carrot put his arm down when Filch glared at him from across the river of students. Apparently being friendly was against code.

After quite a ruckus all of the students were seated at the four tables and Carrot finally noticed the color schemes of the houses. Harry and Dumbledore had explained the houses briefly before but hadn't seen the cliques in action before. The houses didn't seem to interact with each other very much. By the time they were all settled Dumbledore had stood and announced the first years entrance.

A tall lady with a feather-laced hat entered the room with her nose up and a stream of eleven year olds followed her. That must have been Professor McGonagall he had heard about earlier. At the front of the hall an old hat sat on a stool and the first years crowded around it. Carrot nearly jumped when the thing started singing. Carrot was too busy trying to figure out why the hat was singing to really pay attention to it. It was mumbling something about the different houses.

Almost as soon as it was done, McGonagall pulled out a hideously long list and began reading names. A kid would go up after a name was called, sit on the stool, put the hat on their head and a house name would get called. That kid when to Slytherin, another to Ravenclaw, and so forth until all of the little kiddies were separated and applauded. Carrot was lucky he was still standing at all by the time it was done. The wall made a nice leaning post and he made good use of it. He ignored Mr. Filch's cat using his leg as a scratching post. He couldn't expect _every_ animal on the planet to like him, this cat clearly had a favorite.

"And last but not least, I have a few announcements to make." Dumbledore stood. "First of all, Mr. Filch has a new assistant this year. His name is Mr. Carrot Glace and you are to treat him with as much respect as any other of the staff."

Carrot waved when he was addressed. He ignored the glare he was getting from Filch and the mumbling that had filtered through the students. "Hey everybody! Nice to meet you all!"

"Secondly, we have four new transfer students joining us this year." Dumbledore waved a hand and the hunters were led in single file. "These four are a special case and were discovered late, so despite their ages they will be starting as first years. I hope you can all welcome them in and treat them with the respect their ages require."

The group of hunters nodded their heads as they were addressed. Marron simply smiled and ignored the looks he was receiving from the moment he walked in the door. The sight of his brother at the end of the hall calmed him a bit and he smiled. Gateau relaxed when Marron did, but refused to uncross his arms. He briefly realized he was a good three heads taller than most people in the room. The girls simply smiled and wished to sit down as quickly as possible. The girls in the students' seating were hoping the boys would sit down as soon as possible, too.

"Now, for the sorting." Dumbledore smiled. "If you would, Professor."

"Of course." McGonagall cleared her throat. "Gateau Mocha."

Gateau moved to sit down on the stool and twitched when the hat fell on his head. He jumped a little when he heard it speak in his mind. _What the heck?_

_Don't be alarmed. It's just me, the hat. My, you're a strong one, but dedicated to your cause and you have a strong sense of justice. Only one place for you!_

The hat loudly declared "Gryffindor!" and Gateau jumped off the stool to sit at the end of the respective table. He knew it would be a long school year when he saw the first year next to him have to crane her head all the way back to see him properly. She blushed and he just sighed at the thought of being trapped with all these unbeautiful children for a year.

"Chocolat Misu."

Chocolat ignored all the giggling at her name. She couldn't see what was so funny about it. None of them could pull off being as sweet as chocolate like she could. She sat and placed the hat on her head and giggled at the thought of her other hat being there.

_Another strong one! Your goal seems the same as the other, protect your loved ones and serve justice to those who deserve it quickly. Strong and fearless, you get to go to_ "Gryffindor!"

Tira watched her big sister saunter over and plop next to Gateau at the table. She smiled and hurried off to the stool when her name was called. The hat fell on her head and she wasn't so surprised when it started talking in her head. If a painting could talk, why not a hat?

_Interesting personality. You're less outgoing than your sister, and prefer to sit back and watch. You put up with much toil and are patient enough to let things grow and work with them until they do. No question about it, you belong in one place._ "Hufflepuff!"

Tira was slightly put off by being in a different house than her sister and Gateau, but there was little she could do at the moment. She slowly walked over to her yellow and black littered group to take a seat. She glared through her glasses at the first one to make a comment about her bright pink hair. Dyed indeed, what a ridiculous assumption. She couldn't help but glance across the table to where her sister and Gateau were sitting.

"And last but not least, Marron Glace."

Marron walked gracefully over to the stool and let the hat fall on his head. He didn't really care where he ended up, he just wanted this to be over with so he could check his brother's wards and go to sleep.

_Now here's an interesting case. You have a sense of justice like the rest, but you're not a fan of mercy when it comes to personal fights are you? You are a cunning one and not afraid to be ruthless, yet you are wise enough to chose you battles and weigh your options intelligently. You have so much potential, and two houses suit you just fine. But instead of flying with the birds, we'll put you with the snakes._ "Slytherin!"

Harry stared as Marron walked over to the Slytherin table. There was no way that he would be placed with those stuck up jerks. "But he's so nice."

"Nothing good ever comes from that house." Ron looked over at Harry. "He could just be a really good actor, you know."

"Still, it doesn't seem to suit him." Harry put his head in his left hand while the other played with a fork. He couldn't imagine being at odds with Marron.

"Well, you said he was smart and cunning," Hermione patted Harry's hand. "Maybe the hat just looked at his skills instead of his personality."

"Maybe."

Marron looked down the table and sighed. He was receiving the most scathing glance imaginable from that blonde haired boy he had seen at Diagon Alley. He matched the gaze evenly and challenged it. If the brat wanted a fight he would get it. When he saw the girl next to him blush at his glance and Malfoy stiffen he put on a charming style. If it was popularity he was scared of loosing, Marron would win over him without even trying. He let his teeth show through and could have sworn a girl or two swooned. He shook his hair out down his back for emphasis.

"Alright, now that that's been settled," Dumbledore commanded attention again. "A few ground rules for the new students and a review for previous ones."

The collective groan of upperclassmen rumbled through the audience. Harry held his head in his hand and wondered if anything new would show up, though he doubted it. Ron and Hermione looked over the table and checked for the new students so they could catch them later when showing students to the dorms.

"First and foremost, the Forbidden Forrest is just that: forbidden. It is off limits to all students. Secondly, after some council I would like to remind you that magic in the corridors, stairwells, halls, and courtyards, is strictly prohibited. There will be severe punishments for disobeying this rule for any reason this year and I hope that is understood. If you are caught, you will be punished and Mr. Filch will be the least of your worries." He paused for emphasis and smiled with Filch grinned. "Finally, let's all tuck in and enjoy the feast." Dumbledore smiled at the room and waved his wand to reveal the regular feast.

Marron smiled at the special message for his brother. The last thing anyone needed was Carrot getting hit by a stray spell. Even if it was supposed to do something harmless, no telling what creature it would turn him into and what damage it would cause. Marron pulled a piece of chicken onto his plate and poured a glass of pumpkin juice. It was quite good after you gave it a chance. His dining was interrupted by a well placed shadow. "May I help you?"

"So, it's the girly boy who was with Potter in Diagon Alley." Malfoy sneered down at the raven haired newcomer. "Think you've got what it takes to be a Slytherin?"

"If you can be one, I doubt it takes much effort." Marron smiled. "Actually, I'm hoping you're an example of the low end of the house or I'd be quite ashamed to be in this particular house."

If Malfoy were a bird his feathers would have been puffed up into an undignified ball. Instead he snapped his fingers and his two body guards came up behind him. "Is that so? Well, I assure you that I am the very best this house has to offer and a dirty little mudblood like you will be a stain on this house."

"If you're trying to be intimidating, you've failed miserably." Marron smiled. "And I'm not sure what a mudblood is, but even if I am one, it's none of your concern. Now if you'll please, I'm eating."

Malfoy nearly growled. "You'll regret crossing me, Glace."

"I don't regret anything." Marron smiled and flicked a stream of hair behind his head. He ignored anything else that came out of the boy's mouth.

"Why that little brat!" Gateau punched a fist into his hand. "I can't believe he's treating my Marron that way!"

"Calm down, Gateau." Chocolat sipped her drink. "Marron can handle himself, and he doesn't belong to you either."

"Yeah, I know. But still, if I was over there I'd…"

"You'd do nothing because Marron would be pissed you took his fight." Chocolat took a bite of chicken. "Just relax and eat your food."

"Right." Gateau grumbled and continued to munch. This whole 'house' thing didn't sit well with him. It meant they'd all be separated during the day and night. He didn't like that idea at all. It was a fighting disadvantage if he had ever heard one.

Tira ate quietly and listened to the conversations going on around her. She could see Marron dealing with a blonde brat while her sister and Gateau chatted. Carrot was looking bored in the back of the room and trying not to kick Mrs. Norris.

"I hear you're fond of plants, Ms. Misu."

Tira looked up to a round plump face and smiled. "Yes, Mrs.?"

"Professor Sprout. I'm the head of your house and the herbology professor." Professor Sprout smiled down at Tira.

"Oh, pleasure to meet you." Tira tilted her head. "And yes, I use the power of plants to heal, it's called Gaias."

"What a talent."

Carrot watched Tira chat with one of the professors he'd been introduced to earlier in the night. He couldn't help but yawn after a bit. This was really boring and it didn't look as if anyone would finish eating any time soon. The damn cat was getting on his nerve as well. "This is so boring."

"Then go talk to your little friends for all I care. Just stop lounging about." Filch picked up Mrs. Norris and pet her. "You're a bother here."

"Fine then, I guess I will." Carrot wandered over to where Marron was sitting. The others seemed fine in their conversations but his little brother was having trouble.

"Mr. Malfoy, you're doing no one but yourself injury by keeping up these insults." Marron smiled and took a bite of pudding. It was quite delicious.

"Why you rotten little brat." Malfoy clenched his fists and was prepared to take the next step whether or not a professor was present in the room.

"Hey," Carrot clamped a hand down on Malfoy's shoulder. "What's all the commotion?"

"Hello, Brother." Marron held up his plate. "You don't seem to have eaten yet, would you like some?"

"Don't mind if I do." Carrot settled himself down next to Marron and stole some chicken off his plate. "They said I'd get to eat later, but you know me. Who's your friend?"

"A Draco Malfoy, apparently I've insulted him by being present."

"No kidding."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Malfoy shouted.

"Is there trouble here, gentlemen?" Professor Snape had appeared at the table and towered down over the group of boys. If not for Dumbledore's helpful nudges he would have just let it play out.

"Of course not, Professor." Malfoy decided it wasn't worth the trouble just yet. As he walked away he started planning how to get back at the Glace boy later.

"I do hope you won't be a cause of trouble in my house, Mr. Glace." His eyes turned to Carrot. "Either of you."

"My little brother doesn't start trouble." Carrot glared back. "And I just fall into it."

"See that you do it elsewhere and keep my house out of it."

"Sure thing." Carrot gave him an 'okay' sign with his hand. "Whatever you say, teach."

"Good." Snape walked away to his own table, duty done.

"Wow, Snape didn't intimidate you guys at all, did he?"

Marron and Carrot both turned to the new voice directed at them. Marron smiled before answering. "We've seen worse."

"Much worse," Carrot added. "What's your name?"

"Adrian Pucey." The young man held out his hand for a shake. "Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team."

"You're on the Quidditch team?" Carrot asked while popping a grape into his mouth. "That's neat. I still can't get the hang of this broom thing."

"You guys have ridden a broom? I thought you were first years?"

"Well, I'm eighteen and my bro' here is fifteen, so they let us practice a little last week before we came to school. I really suck at it, but Marron's awesome."

"Please, I'm not that good." Marron blushed at the praise. It was embarrassing.

"Don't be shy! You were really flying up there." Carrot patted his brother on the back. "I bet you could do this Quidditch thing, easy."

"Yeah," Adrian added in. "Try outs will be coming up soon for the season so I'd suggest practicing up. We can always use new talent."

"I'll keep that in mind." Marron smiled.

"All right everyone." Dumbledore's voice shouted loudly above the students. "Time to return to your dormitories. First years follow your prefects to your rooms and to retrieve your passwords. I hope everyone has a good rest and enjoys the first day of classes tomorrow."

"Well, time to go them." Carrot stood and started walking backwards towards the teacher's tables. "I'm still not sure where they're sticking me, so I'll see you and the others tomorrow, Marron!"

"Yes, see you later, Brother." Marron stood and followed the Pucey boy to find a prefect. He glanced to the side to see Chocolat and Gateau following Harry and Tira following one of her own house prefects. It was somewhere in the hallway where they all split off into different directions that Marron realized that they would be split up for quite some time in their stay in this world. As he headed down into the dark stone basement and watched the mold begin to creep up the walls he realized how alone he was going to be himself.

"The password to get in is 'pure-blood.'"

Marron nodded at his prefect with the rest of the students, he didn't bother paying attention to the boy's name. He walked in with the rest of the first years and headed towards his room before the prefect stopped him. "Yes?"

"Because of your age, they're rooming you with the fifth years. Down that hall."

"Thank-you for informing me." Marron smiled and followed the hallway to his room to collapse into sleep. He was half-way down the hall before he realized he had forgotten to redo Carrot's wards. "Oh!"

The prefect was stunned when Marron turned around and ran out of the common room and back into the main hallways. "Oy! Where are you going? You're not allowed after curfew!"

"Sorry, but I need to see my brother." Marron had shouted before heading back up to the main dining hall. It took him a while to get there and asking a few paintings, but he made it eventually. The only one still left in the dining room was a very tall shaggy man. Upon closer inspection he realized it was a _very_ tall shaggy man. Even Gateau would have to look up to see this man in the eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Oh! What are you doing up?" Hagrid paused in collecting table ornaments to be put away. "My name is Hagrid by the way."

"Oh, Mr. Hagrid," Marron smiled at the warm tone. "I'm looking for my brother, Carrot Glace. Have you seen where they sent him?"

"Hm? Oh! The boy with Filch." Hagrid rubbed his beard. "I believe they gave him his own room in the staff hall. I'm heading there myself and just 'Hagrid' is fine."

"I would be much obliged if you could escort me there then, Hagrid." Marron breathed a sign of relief. He could change the wards and then go to bed. He held in a yawn and ignored the drain the place put on himself.

"Sure, but then you need to be off to bed before you get into trouble." Hagrid put his things down and headed out of the hall with the much shorter boy following behind. "You've got quite a mop of hair on you."

"Oh, yes. It's always been long." Marron pulled it over his shoulder and absently considered tying it in a braid for classes.

"If you hadn't spoken first I would have taken you for a young lady." Hagrid laughed.

"Yes, many people seem to make that mistake." This time, Marron couldn't contain the yawn.

"Here we are." Hagrid smiled and pointed at a door. "Your brother should be in here."

Marron barely registered that they had already made it down the halls and to the room. He must have been much more tired than he realized. "Thank-you very much, Hagrid."

Marron smiled and knocked on his brother's door when Hagrid disappeared around a corner. He heard a muffled 'come in' and opened the door to reveal his brother face down in a pillow. "Rough day, brother?"

"Yeah, that Filch guy is ruthless. He had me checking all the halls with him to catch strays." Carrot rolled over and yawned. "That and your wards and starting to get full, they're not absorbing the magic anymore."

"I thought as much, which is why I'm here to replace them. Clothes off." Marron pulled out his ofunda and brushes. "It shouldn't take very long and then we can both crash."

"Ah, stop that." Carrot yawned. "You know I always yawn when you do."

Marron began slowly removing wards and replacing each one as he went. "Of course."

The whole process took longer than expected and they were done in about an hour. Carrot fell into his sheets and Marron sat on the edge of the bed and stared tiredly. "I really don't want to go back down to the dungeons. I'm tired and they're too far away."

Carrot patted the bed. "Then just stay here tonight and stop complaining. No one's going to care."

Marron watched his brother roll over onto his side and fell back onto the free space that had been revealed. Fully dressed he stretched out next to his older sibling and snuggled into the blankets facing the opposite direction. "I think I'll take you up on that, Brother." Marron yawned. "And in the morning I can replace the wards again before I have class."

"Sounds good," Carrot mumbled. "Night, Marron."

"Good night, Brother."


	6. Classes

Hey, sorry for the huge delay in updates. Saiyuki took over and things just got out of hand. Having writers block for this story doesn't quite help either, however I figured it would be best to post what I managed to churn out, even if it is a little shorter than I would have liked. If any of you are still reading, I thank you for your patience – and as for new readers, I hope to update more often. Thanks for reading and your reviews!

**Part 6. Classes.**

Gateau yawned into his arms that he had settled securely on the desk. This whole wake up early for class thing was utterly ridiculous and detrimental to his beauty sleep. He snuck a peak to his side to notice Chocolat's hair frazzled and her eyes drooping. At least he wasn't alone in this assumption. If it wasn't for his roommates he probably would have slept through class easily. Gateau watched the other students as they filtered into the classroom. A red and yellow tie there, a green and silver one over there, and so forth. Apparently Slytherin and Gryffindor students shared classes, and that wasn't such a big deal, but the two groups didn't seem to get along. They basically refused to sit next to each other, save for the brave souls that divided the two groups. "Sorry, that seat's taken."

"Oh, excuse me." A student from the room next to Gateau's apologized and went to a seat behind the bulky man.

Gateau threw a book down into the vacant seat next to him. If they were sharing classes with Slytherin, that meant that Marron should be in class with them. The only place Marron was sitting when he got to the room was next to him and that was that. Gateau was determined to undermine the clear ploy to separate the group. Or so he told himself anyway to justify, in all reality it was to separate himself from the unbeautiful people he was stuck sitting next to.

"What makes you think Marron will sit next to you? He might have made a friend by now, you know." Chocolat smirked. Her partner was so predictable, but then again, maybe that was why they worked well together.

"Of course he will!" Gateau smacked a fist down on the table, which in turn shook the entire row and caused all the students in the room to look at him. Gateau slowly removed his hand from the desk and sat it in his lap. He lowered his voice slightly. "Beautiful people should stay together, don't you think?"

"That's your usual reasoning." Chocolat yawned a little and brushed a bit of dust off of her tie. "When does this class start anyway?"

"Not sure, I think it should start in a little bit."

"Ah."

Gateau looked up at the clock when he heard the door shut and watched the professor walk in. It was that McGonagall lady from the sorting, she must be the transfiguration teacher. The woman still looked like she had a wand shoved up her skirt and started writing a few notes on the chalkboard. But where was Marron?

"Hey, Gateau." Chocolat whispered. "Shouldn't Marron be here by now?"

"That's what I was just thinking." Gateau rubbed his chin a little and looked back down at his textbook saving Marron's seat. "He should be here."

"Mr. Mocha, Ms. Misu." McGonagall's voice echoed in the room. "Do you have something to share?"

"No M'am!" The two hunters shouted in unison.

"Good," She turned to the board and began writing down a few page numbers. "Everyone turn to page forty-three in the text so we can start with the basics."

"Won't this be pleasant." Chocolat mumbled to herself.

Gateau couldn't help but to agree from his seat. He sighed and tried to pay attention, but it was hard. This lady wasn't exactly the picture of beauty and it hurt to watch her. He missed Marron, too, which did nothing for his concentration.

"Alright, now everyone take out your wands." McGonagall began her lecture right on time as usual. "We're going to start with a few very basic spells that you should have read over before class."

"Rats." Chocolat mumbled to herself. "Knew I forgot something last night."

Gateau merely huffed and pulled out the wand to stare at it. How could such a small stick possibly help him more than his beautiful muscles? It didn't seem to make any sense, but he had promised himself he'd behave. That way no one could accuse him of starting trouble.

"Now, for our first lesson we're going to be turning a hay straw into a needle." McGonagall took her wand and demonstrated for the class. A perfect transformation, but then again, what else would you expect? "Now, you try."

"Professor!"

"Yes, Ms. Misu?" This girl was going to be trouble, McGonagall could feel it in her bones. Regardless, she straightened her back and turned her attention to the new girl. "You have a question?"

"What's the purpose of this spell?" Chocolat couldn't think of a single reason she'd need to turn hay into needles. Unless she wanted to give someone a nasty prick, but she could do that just as easily with her twine.

"It's a way to practice your skills, Ms. Misu." McGonagall sighed. "And you may find yourself in need of a needle."

"Why?" Gateau decided to add in this time. He leaned his head into his hand as he questioned the teacher. "Couldn't it be just as easy to find a needle? It's not like they're hard to get, or that you couldn't substitute something else. And really, what are the chances that there are hay stalks around when I need one?"

"Would you prefer I started you out with the harder spells, Mr. Mocha?" This type of insolence would not be tolerated. Her lessons were well planned out and practical.

"I'd prefer to learn something useful." Gateau crossed his arms.

"Useful spells are at a high level of difficulty, Mr. Mocha. You must learn the basics first." McGonagall tapped her wand on the desk in front of him. "Now, pay attention and I don't want to hear another word."

"Yes, Ma'am." Chocolat was writhing in her seat to his right, apparently her wand was giving her a fit. Gateau huffed and turned his eyes to the empty seat beside him. Where was his beautiful Marron at a time like this?

At the moment, Marron found himself snuggling into the blankets of the warm bed he was occupying. He could feel his brother shifting beside him and briefly wondered what time it was, but he was sure it wasn't too late. He cracked an eye open and stared at the stuffed rabbit his big brother still had sitting on his dresser. It's name was "Mr. Melody" or something of that nature. Marron yawned into his pillow.

Carrot in the meantime scratched at his wards sleepily when he felt Marron moving. Whatever happened to being a heavy sleeper? Carrot grumbled and pushed farther into the bed. It was this stupid atmosphere that was setting him all on edge. The wards Marron had put on were turning black already after absorbing all of the magic in the room. If there was any magic left in the entire castle by the time he was done he'd be surprised. But, hopefully they wouldn't be here long enough for that to be a problem.

Something was telling Marron he should get up and do something, but it didn't seem that important at the moment. His brother's wards were perfectly fine for another hour or so and he was nice and snug in the bed. Marron dug deeper into the bed to get into a more comfortable position while he waited for his brother to wake up. As soon that happened, he'd replace the wards and go to class. A perfect plan.

"What in bloody blazes is going on in here!" Filch shouted as he bust open the door to Carrot's room. Mrs. Norris followed in faithfully beside him and launched herself onto the bed. She pawed at Carrot's head and made angry noises when he refused to budge. "Boy should have been up hours ago and doing his rounds! Lazy brat, and what's this here?"

Marron shot up in bed and turned to come face to face with Filch. _Oh! The curfew!_

"Out past curfew are we? What happened to following the rules! Students shouldn't be out of the dorms at night." Filch walked over and yanked the blankets off the bed, dragging Carrot down with them. Mrs. Norris had dodged gracefully. "And since you're not getting special treatment, I guess it's up to me to decide on a proper punishment."

"You must forgive, I came to change my brother's wards last night and I guess I fell asleep." Marron hopped out of bed as his brother started mumbling. "What time is it? Breakfast already?"

"Classes started over fifteen minutes ago!" Filch shouted. "But that's the least of your worries once I'm done with you. Hey! Get back here!"

"I'll change your wards later, brother!" Marron shouted as he sprinted down the hallways, barely managing not to trip on the rough stone floors. If he could get to the dungeons and grab his things he might possibly be able to catch the tail end of class. He hoped Carrot would be alright on his own for a while. Well, Marron was certain that Carrot could handle that Filch fellow just fine. When he heard a yelp come from the hall behind him, he was only thankful Filch couldn't use magic to stop him.

Maybe if he could get to Dumbledore before Filch did he could get out of the punishment. Marron smirked, he did have a valid reason to be out. I mean really, let Carrot transform and attack the entire school or be out after curfew? No special treatment here, just cold hard facts. The thought of Filch realizing that later made him smile.

Marron dashed as quickly as he could down the stairs of his new dungeon home and got to his room. All of his things should have been moved inside of the bedroom, or so he'd assumed. Marron stopped dead at the end of what was clearly his bed. Apparently Malfoy had some fun last night while Marron was away. "Dusty!"

Little Dusty struggled to get out of the ropes that had him tied to the bed. He was grateful for Marron when he pulled the horrible bindings off. "How dare they tie you down like this! That Malfoy, oh Dusty I'm sorry."

Dusty shook himself off indignantly when he was finally free. He looked at his master accusingly for leaving him all alone from his warm palms. The little owl then flew off to sit on the dresser and start picking at some treats that had opened.

"Don't worry, that won't ever happen again." Marron glared as hard as he could at the mess in his room. It would most certainly never happen again.

His corner of the room was a mess to say the least. His books were strewn all about, paint littered the bed and Dusty's cage was overturned. His clothes were hanging out of various drawers and his trunk. There was paint strewn across the bedding, he couldn't read it though. He just assumed that it was insulting and left it at that. At a second upward glance, he thought he could see his tunic on the top of the bedpost. Marron snarled.

He was angry and began searching through his belongs. Marron laughed when he finally found all of his brush sets and ofuda. A few spells here, a few wards there and his bed was wizard proof in less than ten minutes. Now, to plan a sweet, but untraceable revenge. Marron smiled and pat Dusty on the head. Class be damned, this was war.

Class however, was not damned, just incredibly boring. Tira leaned her head on her hands and tried to pay attention to the history lesson. But there was just something about the ghost's voice that made her sleepy. She briefly looked about the room and noticed many of her fellow classmates were also dead asleep. She chuckled at her own pun and then scolded herself for being so bored that she'd make bad puns. She briefly wondered how the others were doing.

Her sister and Gateau would probably be complaining about the situation. Marron would probably be handling things smoothly like he always did. A snore to her right broke her train of thought and she looked back up at the main desk. She pried open her textbook to see where exactly he was with the material when she noticed something rather odd. The man was practically reading word for word from the text. Tira scowled and just slammed the cover down. No wonder everyone was asleep. They could just read it later.

Tira tried desperately to hold in her yawn but it came out anyway. No one noticed, or cared. She was starting to notice her house was a bit of a pushover among the others. The non-confrontational house so it would seem and they were all quiet. After being around her sister and the others, she missed the loud and obnoxious atmosphere that usually surrounded them. The other house she shared classes with wasn't much better for keeping her entertained. The Ravenclaw students seemed to be alright, a bit brainy, but alright though. At least they got along well, from what she saw at breakfast and the night before Gryffindor and Slytherin had the worst rivalry. Tira snickered when she realized the trouble that would cause for Gateau and his obsession with Marron.

At least Carrot hadn't been put in a house. Tira had no doubt he'd get stuck in a different house from Marron and that would be awful. It had to be, because Tira missed her sister terribly at the moment, so it would be the same for the brothers, right?

Speaking of Carrot, Tira could see him. She smiled at him as he peaked in through the classroom door. He spotted her and waved before putting a finger to his lips and mimicked the 'shush' noise. She giggled into her hands and waved a tiny wave back. Carrot was doing just fine apparently.

Looked like Tira was doing well for herself at least. Or so Carrot assumed, she waved back and smiled so that's a good sign, right? Carrot scowled though as he walked away from the door rubbing his head. That Filch guy was downright brutal when he wanted to be and his cat was no better. He huffed and went back to work mopping the floor as his punishment for sleeping in too late. No one had told him he had to be at work at a certain time. Carrot was almost positive he only had this job for a cover, but what could you do? He smiled at his reflection in the floor, this job wasn't so bad. He just hoped his brother was okay after that annoying little wake-up call. He'd have to warn him about Filch later on, the man had a bloodlust for his ebony-haired brother.

"Mr. Glace, nice of you to join us."

"Sorry, Professor. Something came up that I had to attend to." Marron smiled politely and walked down to take the seat that Gateau was avidly pointing to. The man was like an overgrown child sometimes. Marron sat down and tried to ignore Gateau's sudden smiling face.

"And you made it for the last ten minutes of class. Do not make this a habit." McGonagall looked down her nose at the boy.

"Of course not." Marron put on his warmest smile. "It will not happen again, please forgive me. I'm having more trouble adjusting to the schedule than I previously anticipated."

His voice was silk and dripped of complete control of the situation. It was positively Slytherin. McGonagall would definitely be watching that one as well. He had potential to be a very dangerous threat. "And since you're so late, adjustments or not, you will have to make up all of the work we've done on your own."

"Of course Ma'am." Marron picked up his wand and looked at the props in front of him. "May I ask what it is you did today so I can try out a little in these ten minutes."

"Turning straw into needles." McGonagall did a transformation quickly. "Like so."

Marron watched her movements and the spell she recited and turned to his own. "Like this?"

"Yes," shocked would be a good word to define how the professor was feeling at the moment. "That was perfect, Mr. Glace."

"Wow, Marron." Chocolat smiled and leaned over the desktop so she could see him past Gateau. "On the first try too! You'll be as good at this as you were on the broom!"

"Broom?" McGonagall questioned.

"Yes, though I deny it, many have been telling me I have quite a talent." Marron blushed slightly. "I was thinking of going for the Quidditch team."

"What?" If this boy joined the team, no. McGonagall had nothing to worry about. Just because you're good at spells doesn't mean you're good on a broom. Her team didn't have to worry just yet. "Good for you, but I hope you'll also concentrate on your studies."

"Yes, naturally."

"Why were you so late?"

Marron turned towards Gateau who was whispering in his ear. He let out a small sigh and let the inevitable interrogation begin. "I slept in over at Carrot's room after changing his wards."

"Oh." Gateau straightened. Marron was leaving something out of his excuse. "Was that it?"

"Just about." Marron turned another piece of hay into a needle for fun. There was no real reason to mention his room being vandalized. It would only upset the others and make Gateau rush to his 'rescue.' That was not something he needed right now.

"Okay." Gateau vowed to find out what was really bothering his Marron later.

Chocolat vowed that she was going to smash her wand into a billion little pieces if that piece of straw didn't turn into a needle in the next two seconds.

-----

Marron had never been so happy as when all of his classes had ended. They were all unbearably easy and boring. Though, watching Gateau and Chocolat fumble with their wands had been rather amusing. Even if he couldn't tell that to their faces. "We have dinner next, right?"

"Yeah." Chocolat stretched. "And it's so unfair with all the homework we've got to do."

"More unfair that Marron finished all of it in class since he mastered the spells on his first try." Gateau grumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets. "You do realize your helping us study, right?"

"I had a feeling you'd ask." Marron looked up ahead. A very familiar little sister was walking towards them wearing her new yellow and black color scheme. "Hello, Tira. How were your classes?"

"Not bad, a little boring but they seem challenging enough." Tira pushed up her glasses. "Herbology is most definitely the favorite class. Oh, have you seen, Carrot?"

"No, I haven't seen my brother all day." Marron stopped and remembered his rude wake up call. He never did get a chance to replace the spells keeping the magic out of his system. "We should find him, his wards are probably about to curl and fall off."

"Oh! My poor Darling, I forgot all about that."

"Chill Chocolat," Gateau patted her red hair and then ruffled it for fun. "We don't see a raging monster anywhere so he's probably fine."

"That's right, let's just go find him and then we can switch the wards and get something to eat." Tira stated calmly.

"No need to look any farther, the great Carrot is here." Said vegetable-named Sorcerer Hunter grinned and leaned on his mop. He had cleaned about six corridors before coming around a corner to find his friends all nice and neat in one spot.

"Hello Brother." Marron smiled. "Filch wasn't too horrible this morning was he?"

"Nah, he just put me to work." Carrot yawned. "He's got it out for you though, might want to watch it."

"How are your wards, Darling?"

"Fine, sort of, Chocolat." Carrot lifted up his shirt. "They're all black and itchy, but still working. Though I can feel the headache coming."

"Let's get those fixed." Marron took his brother's hand and started walking towards the Slytherin dorm. "All of my things are in the dungeon."

"Creepy." Carrot laughed.

"Want us to come with you?" Tira offered.

"It's alright, we'll do it quickly and meet you two in the dining room."

"Alright, Marron." Tira smiled and followed Chocolat and Gateau to the dining room. All in all it had been a pretty good day. The sorcerer hunter just hoped that the rest of their time here could be this pleasant, though she doubted it.


	7. Professor of the Dark Arts, Defense Of

It's not dead! I swear it! Thanks for putting up with me and for reading and reviewing! So many thanks!

Oh! And I do have justification for my choice of DATDA professor. You'll get it next chapter in the author notes.

**Part 7. Professor of the Dark Arts, Defense of.**

"Mr. Glace," Snape drawled from down the tip of his nose. One Day. Classes had only been in session for one day and students were already blowing up things. And it wasn't even time for lights out, yet. He expected this sort of thing from Potter and his little followers, but to come from his own house was just grating on his nerves. He shouldn't have to suffer this embarrassment. He was sure that McGonagall was having a field day over this utter nonsense. "Please tell me this will not be a common occurrence. I will not tolerate this sort of behavior in my house."

"Of course not, sir. I was yet unaware of how far we could take retaliation within school grounds. I guess I assumed I was still within the safe limit of harmless student bickering." Actually, he had underestimated the school's ability to track magical attacks. Such a bother. Marron smirked a little as his eyes drifted in Malfoy's direction. At least the boy's hair was still smoldering slightly and the little wisps of smoke were rising slowly in the air. Marron was a firm believer that sometimes it was worth the consequence for the ending result. "It will never happen again."

"Good. And don't think you're getting off easy for this because you're a new student." Snape reached a hand up to massage his temple. He was much too tired to be dealing with this right now. Snape already had his hands full getting used to the new professor of the dark arts. That guy just had something off about him that Snape didn't like. And this new student was proving to be trouble, if not resourceful. He lifted an eyebrow in the blonde boy's direction, however Malfoy probably had it coming. "Fifty points from Slytherin for this disrespect against your fellow student and you'll be helping to clean the Quidditch practice field tomorrow night."

Marron frowned a little as Malfoy dawned a smug smile on his face. The sorcerer hunter couldn't figure out what was so funny considering his face was still black from the smoke. He smiled however when Professor Snape added on a tag ending to their sentence. At least there was one professor here that Marron could relate to. Who said sorcerers couldn't deal justice if they felt like it?

"What do you mean for me too!" Malfoy was shocked and could feel his own jaw drop. Why was he being punished? It was that other little git that caused all the trouble by showing up and acting superior in the first place.

"I heard about the little incident that involved trashing Mr. Glace's room when he first arrived. From what I understand, this act was a retaliation from that original event. Though it's not justified, if does mean that this even was caused by two parties." Snape pushed back and stood at his desk to emphasize his own authority. "You should know better than to bully your fellow housemates, Mr. Malfoy. And that's my final word on the subject."

Malfoy's face blushed slightly at the embarrassment as Professor Snape excused himself from the room. That other boy, Glace, had a smug little smile on his face and was mocking him. Malfoy took a breath and regained his composures with an attempt to smother his anger. He'd have to think this through if he really wanted revenge. "You'll regret this, Glace."

"I rather doubt it, somehow." Marron shook his head and walked away. He had other worries to deal with than to mess with a spoiled child.

"And why is that?"

"Children tend to provide little threat." Marron smiled. "And I've dealt with far worse than you."

Malfoy set his face in a scowl. He would definitely find a way to put that pretty boy down on his knees. "And I can assure that you'll regret messing with a Malfoy."

Marron didn't even bother to reply to the final threat and turned to walk out of the office. That little blonde idiot didn't deserve his time, and besides, Carrot's wards needed changing soon. The younger brother was going to have to find some way to make those seals last longer than they were. They were absorbing the magic in the air at an alarming rate and he was being forced to change them much more often. A conversation with Dumbledore concerning his elder brother might have to be scheduled. Speaking of Carrot, Marron was pleased to see him waiting outside of the office leaning against a wall.

"Hey, Marron. How'd it go in there?"

"Nothing major, brother. Merely detention and lost house points." Marron shrugged a little and started to walk in line with Carrot as he pushed off the wall. "Neither really concerns me at the moment. How are your wards doing?"

"Itchy. Like every other time you ask about them. Chill out a little, Marron. If I transform, I'm sure you and everyone else in the castle will know about it." Carrot laughed out loud and slapped Marron on the back shoulder. He was such a worry-wort. "But more importantly, isn't your curfew coming up? Filch still has it out for you, ya know."

"A regretful side affect of being in school, I'm afraid." Marron blew a few strands of hair out of his face. "I do wish Dumbledore would reconsider our restrictions. It's not as if we're actually ten year olds."

"Yeah well, he's just trying to keep things equal. I guess." Carrot yawned into his hand. "The older kids have to be in bed, too."

"But back to a more important subject, I do wish you wouldn't joke about your zoanthrapy, brother." Marron put his hand on his shoulder. "I think we both know it would be quite troublesome if we let that happen."

"Yeah, I know. But no use worrying about it until it happens."

"Still, a little more caution would be in your best interest."

Carrot decided that a change in subject was in order. "Well, I'm bushed. I'll have to catch you at breakfast tomorrow. Just wanted to make sure Snape didn't go too hard on my little bro'."

"It is appreciated, Brother." Marron smiled as they approached the fork in the hallway that divided where their rooms were located. His brother may have escaped the topic for now, but Marron would try and have this discussion with again soon enough. "I'll see you in the morning then."

"Night." Carrot waved and watched Marron head down the long staircase. Now that he'd settled that issue, it was his turn to take a quick run around the school and hurry kids off to the dorms. At least there were a few perks to being Filch's assistant. Nothing more fun than scaring kids that were hanging out late after curfew. And if he was lucky he might find a hot upper classman girl running around that had to be punished. Carrot giggled to himself as he whistled down the hallway.

-----

"What's up with you, Chocolat?" Gateau asked over his textbook. This whole study thing wasn't complimenting his beauty at all. He could be doing more important things right now. Like striking the Gateau family poses and having others bask in the awe of his gorgeous muscles.

Chocolat was gripping her pen tightly. She refused to write with those quill things and had Marron make her a few pens since he was so damn good at transfiguration anyway. But that wasn't important at the moment. "My darling senses are telling me he's thinking about cheating on me! That's what!"

"He's always cheating on you. So what's new this time?"

"I can't leave the room to go make sure he stays faithful!" The red head moaned as she dropped her head onto the desk. "This curfew thing is horrible."

"Tell me about it. I can't even check to see if Marron's okay with those jerks."

"I'm sure he can take care of himself." Chocolat peaked out from under her arms. "At least Tira seems to be in a good house. Apparently her Herbology professor really likes her. Spent an entire class period with her to talk about her Gaian powers. Talk about curiosity."

"I know. That's all she talked about during dinner." Gateau closed the book and pushed it aside. "I can't believe we have to study this crap. So far it's all been completely pointless. I still can't see the point of transforming a needle into a straw or vise-versa."

"Oh shut up, we already got scolded once for complaining. I'd rather not hear that woman's voice more than I have to." Chocolat scoffed and did a quick imitation of McGonagall's nose in the air. She snorted before tapping her pen against the desk. She hated parchment paper, too. "Let's just finish this stupid homework and go to bed."

"Ah sleep, the only place where I can escape the lack of beautiful people." Gateau mumbled. He put it behind him quickly enough as he slammed his fist down. "I still think it's strange they split all of us up. Why couldn't we all be in the same house!"

"That's easy, it's because they split us up according to skill level and personality so that we can develop our talents together with others who are similar."

Gateau and Chocolat looked up to see a the girl with brown wavy hair that had answered their question albeit uninvited. Chocolat was not amused that she decided to but in, even if she was a prefect. "I don't believe we were talking to you."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and packed up her books. She had studied enough for the night as it is. "You were talking loud enough that anyone could have thought otherwise. I merely answered your question."

"Yeah, well next time just stay out of it." Gateau narrowed his eyes. Wizards. He didn't care that there were exceptions, they all still left him feeling a tad uneasy.

"Well, I'm sorry." Hermoine frowned at the new students. Just because they were 'special' did not give them the right to treat this school like it was a hindrance to them and nothing more. "Next time don't ask open ended questions so loudly when you do not expect someone to answer you."

"We'll keep that in mind." Chocolat shoved her chin in her hand. She was trying to think where she had seen this girl before. If she remembered right she was one of Harry's friends.

"Are you done then?" Gateau licked his teeth.

"Of course, if you'll excuse me I have a prefects meeting to attend."

Gateau narrowed his eyes. "She's gonna' be trouble."

Chocolat agreed with a silent nod.

-----

"So, Harry." Ron started as he rolled over in his bed. His friend was still awake reading a few scrolls and the red head was still curious.

"What is it, Ron?" Harry cocked his head up from his homework. Snape was really cracking down on them this year. Not that he really had a chance of passing that class in the first place.

"I know you told us about those new students earlier, but what do you really think about them?"

"I think they're all pretty nice, actually." Harry turned back down to start writing a bit more on his scroll. "They're just a little intense when they fight."

"Yeah, that must have been something else to watch. And it happened at your house!"

Harry nodded and pressed his quill to the paper. "Dumbledore wasn't too happy about it either."

"But they really fight sorcerers without magic? I don't know if that's really cool, or really scary."

"Sort of both, but I'm pretty sure that Marron can use magic, though. Or something really close to it already that's from his world."

Ron sat up straight in bed to continue the conversation. "He's really good at our magic, too."

"What do you mean, Ron?"

"Haven't you heard the rumors? Apparently he's been amazing in all of his classes and mastering all of the spells on his first try! The professor's are dumbfounded!" Ron threw his arms out. "It's crazy and it's only his first day! You said they didn't complete any magic training while they were hanging out in the school save for the broom riding."

"No, I hadn't heard that. Where did you?"

"At the prefect meeting right before lights out."

"Then that would explain why I hadn't heard about it yet, wouldn't it?" Harry tried to keep the bitterness in his voice down a notch.

"Sorry, Harry. I keep forgetting." Ron chuckled a bit and rubbed his hair. Changing the subject might be in order. "You think they might let him skip a grade or two if he gets really good?"

"I'm not sure. I think Professor Dumbledore wants to keep them in the first years section."

"I guess that means he doesn't trust them." Ron shrugged. "But speaking of new guys, what do you think of our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor? Talk about creepy! That guy makes Snape look like all flowers and roses!"

Harry shivered a little. "Yeah, he definitely had something intimidating about him. Looked more like he should have been a teacher of the Dark Arts than someone who defended against them."

Ron continued talking as if he had read his friend's mind. "You think that's what they did? Get someone who knows the Dark Arts to teach people the holes in it?" Ron leaned back in his bed again. "That would be kinda' cool."

Harry blew a little air out and pat Hedwig on the head for good measure. It was only his first day and he was exhausted already. "Maybe, but for now I'm just going to study some more for tomorrow."

"Night then, Harry."

-----

Tira was bored out of her mind. The Hufflepuff house was full of level-minded, somewhat secluded, people. What should have been pleasant company was negated by the fact Tira had adjusted herself to being used to insanity twenty-four seven. There was no Chocolat to yell at for running after Carrot. No Marron being stalked by Gateau ripping off his clothes. No Carrot chasing after girls. Just, boredom. Though, there did seem to be quite a bit of gossip running around about the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Tira wouldn't know, because Professor Sprout had called her away for that entire class period to talk about her previous studies before releasing her back for ancient runes.

Tira stretched her arms over her head and flopped back onto her soft bed covered in yellow decorations. She was thankful that she had finished her homework and all she wanted to do now was take a nap. There was nothing else that came to mind that she should be doing other than sleeping. She hoped that the school year would pick up and prove to be more beneficial to the group. And that they could find someway to get home to Big Mama.

Whispering silent 'Good-Nights' to her teammates, Tira turned over and waited for morning to come.

-----

Marron tried to ignore his large companion as he prattled on about conspiracies and a lack of beauty as he sat in the dim Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The professor seemed to be late, but that was alright with Marron. He just wished that Gateau would shut up and listen to Chocolat for once. Though, he was a tad worried about today's class. Ron and Harry had been talking about the fifth year's class yesterday and how the professor was frightening. Marron hoped they were just over reacting.

"I wonder where the Professor is." Chocolat sighed as she leant her head into her arms on the desk. The auditorium was packed with both Slytherin and Gryffindor first years and the noise was getting above a level that Chocolat could tolerate.

Gateau huffed as Marron ignored him and started reading the first pages in their text book. "Probably plotting something against us."

"I rather doubt that, Gateau." Marron flipped a few pages in the index. Vampires, Werewolves, Evil Magic, etc. filled the contents. He was starting to think that this class would be a bit of a bore considering that The Sorcerer Hunters fought evil wizards on a daily basis.

"Oh!" Chocolat perked up as she remembered something. She leant over Gateau's lap to get up close to Marron. "You never answered me when I asked where Darling was at breakfast!"

Marron smothered a laugh as Gateau complained about Chocolat practically lying in his lap. More so because the entire class was watching them sit in a suggestive pose than from their typical antics. "I thought I answered? Filch has him doing early chores. Seems he's taking out his frustration with me out on Brother."

"Oh! My poor Darling!" Chocolat moaned as she clutched at her own shoulders and wiggled to herself. Gateau coughed and tried to shove her off. "Why won't he ever come to me when he needs assistance or a shoulder to lean on?"

"I'm sure if he really needs it, he will." Marron turned back to his book when he was tapped on the shoulder by a classmate behind him in a higher row. "Can I help you? It was Adrian, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! Glad you remembered." Adrian grinned at the fellow Slytherin. Sure he hung out with a few Gryffindor's, but he was far too skilled in magic to have that be a grudge. "Did you think any more about joining the Quidditch team?"

"Ah," Marron frowned. "I'm not sure as of yet."

"Well, how about this?" Adrian handed Marron a small sheet of parchment with a date and time written on it. "Show up to our next practice and try it out. If you don't like it than I won't bring it up again, how's that sound?"

"It sounds good." Marron nodded and slipped the sheet of paper away in his robes. "I'll be sure to at least give it a try."

"Awesome!" Adrian sat back in his chair. "See you then."

Marron nodded and turned back to the book on his desk. Maybe if he read far enough ahead he could ask questions that could pull out some new information from the Professor. Though, before he could get too far he could hear a loud slamming of a door. Looking up he saw the side door of the classroom open and watched a very shadowy man dressed all in black walk through. Marron could have sworn his breathing had stopped as the recognition hit his senses.

Chocolat felt her blood run cold as she stared at the man standing at the front of the classroom. That greasy black hair, those dark eyes, and a face that she could never forget in her worst nightmares or most pleasant dreams. She could feel Gateau stiffen beside her as well and start gripping his fists. "Dear God…"

The professor sat a stack of books down on his desk and brushed off his long black sleeves before scanning the classroom. Once he was sure that he had their complete attention, he continued with his introduction. "Hello class, my name is Sacher Torte and I'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor for this year."


	8. God Has an Amusing Sense of Humor

Short, almost forced, and I don't care. It got updated. That's all that matters. Author Note at the end to explain Sacher. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**Part 8. God Has an Amusing Sense of Humor**

Chocolat leapt to her feet after her senses returned to her. How _dare_ that man be here! He was supposed to be dead! Her voice was thick with rage and confusion and carried loudly over her hands slamming into the counter. "SACHER!"

Sacher lifted a single eyebrow as the young woman in the front row with flaming red hair who had nearly jumped across her desk. The only think holding her back was her muscle-man neighbor whose reaction times were pretty quick for a boy his age or size. There was rage in her eyes that he didn't understand; he'd never met this woman before in his life. The hate was unmistakeable and Sacher spoke slowly in reply. "Can I help you, Miss?"

"Don't play dumb with me you bastard! Why I sho-mph!"

Marron begged for forgiveness in his head the moment he shoved his hand over Chocolat's mouth to cut her off. Though, he was thankful Gateau took it upon himself to grab her; Marron wasn't sure he could hold Chocolat back when she was angry. Despite what it looked like, there was a very good chance that this was just a misunderstanding on her part. It was in everyone's best interest to lie low until they gathered more information. Though, the likeness was uncanny. "Forgive her, Professor. You resemble someone we used to know who hurt her very deeply. I was a little shocked myself, so it was only natural she'd react this way. I'm sure it won't happen again."

"I see. I can assure the young lady that I've never met her before in this lifetime." He watched as the girl was dragged back down into her seat by her companions all the while remaining tense. She sent a scowling look to her raven-haired Slytherin friend and Sacher stored that away for future information. It wasn't often that Slytherins and Gryfindors stayed in each other's company willingly. "Well, at the very least let's not have any more outbursts of that nature in my classroom."

"Of course, sir." Marron nodded and looked over Gateau at Chocolat to gauge the woman's reaction. She had her arms crossed over her chest, but she was remaining quiet.

Sacher sighed inwardly as he stared at those three; they were going to be trouble. "Now, unlike in my other classes where I have to figure out what they've studied and what they have not thanks to your ever changing professors, this is a first year class so we can start from scratch. Please open your books to page twenty and we'll take a look at..."

As professor Sacher continued on with his first lecture, Gateau leant down next to his partner who was still tense. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Chocolat whispered back harshly. "That's Sacher. I don't care what he says."

"Well, for right now just take it easy." Gateau almost rubbed her shoulder, but thought better of it. "We'll figure this out later."

"I'll be fine, Gateau."

"If you two would like to hold a conversation during my lecture, than please leave the room." Sacher glared at the two who had caused a disturbance earlier. "You're distracting from the material."

"We're done." Chocolat's voice was clipped as she opened her book. Gateau looked as if he was going to say something, but she cut him off with a glare. The bulky man stayed quiet.

"Now then, as I was saying..."

Marron was running through as many possibilities through his head that he could to figure out why this Sacher Torte look-a-like was here or could exist. However, he wasn't able to come up with any valid theories. Instead of worrying about it too much, Marron opened his text book. If this really was Sacher, the one that they knew, than he'd give himself away somehow. They just needed to watch him carefully for any slips. Granted, for all Marron knew it was just the doppleganger effect.

-----

"But Momma!" Daughter cried out as the wise woman sat in her throne. She was out of breath and her wings were drooping. Carrot and the others had been missing for close to a week already! "There's no sign of them anywhere!"

"Calm yourself, Daughter." Big Momma sat her hands in her lap as she played the information over in her head. She had sent her sorcerer hunters on a routine mission to check out Cake Short and his experiments. The old man should not have given them any issue. Momma wasn't even quite sure if he was the culprit and even if provoked without reason would probably let something slide. "Mille Feuille, take Cinnamon Tea with you and go see Cake Short."

"Of course, Momma." The purple haired Haz Knight bowed before walking out of the hall. Despite what she told the winged girl, Daughter, if she was calling her Haz Knights in to investigate she was surely worried. He took a breath and put a smile back onto his face. On the bright side, he'd get to go see his favorite band of hunters. Teasing Carrot was far too much fun; that thought in mind Mille Feuille held his skipping until he was out of sight.

"Do you think that they're okay, Momma?" Daughter rubbed her hands together. The rag tag group of hunters had never been missing for this long. "I'm getting really worried."

"I know, Daughter." Big Momma opened up her arms to let the girl nuzzle in for a hug. Maybe she should contact Sirius and have him pay a visit as that always seemed to calm the younger girl down. "But don't worry, wherever they are we will find them. I know that they're alive."

"Yeah." Daughter started to snicker. "I bet Carrot's being an idiot and hitting on all the girls like he usually does."

"I'm sure that he is." Big Momma chuckled and set a caring hand on the girl's head. She was a sweetheart. "Are you jealous?"

"Of course not!" Daughter huffed and crossed her arms. "I just feel sorry for him after what he'll look like when the Misu sisters get done with him!"

Big Momma laughed and was thankful for this little bit of cheer. She did hope that they were alright. For now, all she could do for them was pray and hope that her Haz Knights came through for her.

-----

"You're kidding?" Carrot munched on a muffin as he leant over the eating table. "Looks and sounds just like old Sacher?"

"The resemblance is uncanny, Brother." Marron nodded in his seat. He made sure that his voice was low to keep this information from prying ears. Normally he'd wait to have this conversation with his brother at a later time, but Filch was more strict than ever recently with Brother's free time. "If not for his lack of recognition, I'd think it was Sacher Torte, too."

"Think it's an act?"

"I'm not sure." Marron sighed. "If it is, it's very convincing. He was clearly confused when Chocolat confronted her."

"How's she feeling now?"

"Chocolat's still upset."

"Yeah, I could have told you that." Carrot signaled over his shoulder at the sisters both sitting at the Hufflepuff table. They were sitting close to each other and he couldn't see their faces. The muscle man of their group was sitting backwards on his bench at the Gryffindor table watching them. "How's Gateau taking it?"

Marron sighed and took another bite of his own food. "Better than his partner."

"Well, I've figured that much." Carrot took another bite. That jerk of a grounds keeper had forbidden him from eating on shift because he was getting crumbs on the floor. He was hungry! "She told Tira yet?"

"I believe she's explaining the situation now." Marron looked over his brother's shoulder to confirm. "Yes, Gateau's making sure she stays calm, if even from a distance."

"That's good." Carrot yawned and stretched out on the table clearing a plate to the side. He was wiped and a change of topic was in order. "How are classes?"

"Fairly simple, actually." Marron shrugged. "The technique is different but the concept's the same. It's not different from the Eastern Magic I've already learned."

"Or you're just freakishly good at this stuff." Carrot chuckled as his little brother frowned. He had to get in his teasing sometime.

Marron huffed. "What about you? Aren't you supposed to be taking lessons, too?"

"Not enough time. Filch is keepin' me too busy." Carrot stretched his arms behind his head and looked around as everyone started to finish eating and walk out of the room. "Speaking, looks like dinner's over. Guess I gotta' go back to work."

"Ah, what a shame." Marron sighed as he set his fork down and stood as well. The dishes removed themselves and Marron was happy to not need to clean up. "I'll try and stop by to change your wards before curfew, Brother."

"Sounds good." Carrot pushed up from the bench himself. "But for now, the slave driver's calling. See-ya later, Marron."

Carrot waved goodbye to his brother as he and the other students started filing out into the hallway. The brunette looked around the room quickly before grinning and sneaking out among them. You couldn't give orders to someone you couldn't find, after all. Carrot successfully snuck by the grumpy gatekeeper and his cat to make it out into the hallway. He hung back on a wall for the mass of the students to clear before he started walking in the opposite direction.

To run straight into a familiar blonde student.

"Watch where you're going!" Malfoy snarled as he pulled himself up from the floor. How dare that, that, well Malfoy wasn't sure what he was but he was sure the man had dirty blood! "Do you even know who I am?"

"Uh, that Malfoy kid who keeps giving my little brother a hard time?" Carrot glared down. He remembered this little brat oh too well. "Sorry for knocking you down."

"Oh please, you don't know anything." Malfoy huffed. "One word from my Father and I can have you out of here."

"Look kid, just keep walking. This wasn't a big deal." Carrot promptly ignored references to the boy's heritage.

"Don't call me a kid!"

"You're younger than me." Carrot crossed his arms. "I'll call you what I want."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Well you're a dimwit."

"Actually, I'm a love machine." Carrot grinned as he was conveniently distracted by a much prettier little blonde walking on the opposite side of the otherwise empty hallway. "Now if you'll excuse me"

"Get back here, I wasn't done yet!" Malfoy shouted. When the man didn't stop Malfoy narrowed his eyes. He'd show the Glace brothers just who was boss around here! "You stop when I say stop! Take this!" Malfoy shouted as he pointed his wand. "Stupify!"

"Shit!" Carrot tried his best to dive out of the way, but was unsuccessful. He cried out when the curse smacked him hard in the leg. He moaned in agony as the direct blast of magic overloaded the wards; he could feel them shrinking and flaking off of his skin. He growled gutturally and held onto his head as the transformation started taking place. He only hoped that Marron and the others were close by to stop him.

Malfoy stared as the brown haired man growled and twitched on the ground. But instead of paralyzing the idiot, he was growing fangs and his legs had ripped through his pants to transform into...a snake tail? "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Carrot moaned and held his side. The transformation was finished, but he could still feel magic very slowly seeping in. It felt a hundred times worse than when he first was in the castle without Marron's wards! He looked at his hands and down at his legs and cursed before turning to the blond boy. "Jeesh! Did you have to half-ass the spell? That puny little thing didn't even have enough kick to finish the transformation! Now look at me! I'm half-snake!"

"But...that's not what was supposed to happen..." Malfoy trailed off as the man stood upright on the tail. This was ridiculous!

"Yeah, well it did." Carrot looked at his lower half in disgust. He pointed to it angrily as he continued to berate the blonde. "Couldn't you have at least used a magic that would have made down there more endowed?" Carrot got a dreamy look on his face. "Man, I remember when I was half horse. Man was I packing!"

"What?" Now Malfoy was just confused. What on earth was he talking about now? "You're insane."

"No, I'm pissed." Carrot snarled. The magic kept creeping into his system and he knew that it wasn't going to be long before he really lost it and got nasty. "If I remember correctly it's against the rules to use magic in the halls, right?"

Malfoy gulped when the man grinned and his now elongated canines peered through. Glace's breathing was getting heavier and his eyes were slowly slitting. Whatever transformed him seemed to still be happening. "What are you?"

"Dangerous." Carrot chuckled and leaned forward so that he was truly towering over the boy. He slammed the end of his tail on the ground for emphasis. "Now get the hell out of here before I really get pissed off and let Filch have his way with you for breaking school rules."

Carrot laughed when the Malfoy boy started to sprint away. That would show him to mess with either of the Glace brothers any time soon. Though, Carrot was glad the kid didn't have much 'umph' behind the attack. Even if it hurt like a bitch, being half-transformed meant he still had his wits about him. Carrot looked down at his hands and sighed at the claws his nails turned into. He'd need to go find Marron to fix this.

"Bloody hell! What happened to you!?"

Carrot turned around to see a very stunned red head, a pretty little bookish brunette, and Harry staring at him. He tried to smile and held his hand up in a wave. "Um, what's up?"

"He's a naga." Hermione pointed out as she walked closer. "Is this a spell or were you always like that and just using a disguise?"

"What's a naga?" Ron squinted as he thought and looked towards Hermione.

"Half-snake, half-human. Like a centaur or mermaid, but with a snake as the other half." Hermione rattled out quickly. "But that's not important."

"Are you okay, Carrot?" Harry walked over next to his new friend from the summer. He hadn't seen him since school started so he had been curious about what he and his friends were up to. But he wasn't expecting this. "Do you need to see the nurse?"

"Oh, no." Carrot rubbed his hair and winced. He could still feel the magic seeping in and needed to get out of there before he lost it. "It's a long story but I really need to see Marron. Do you know a fast way to the Slytherin dorms?"

"Yeah, sure." Harry nodded and started walking towards the dorms. Carrot slithered beside him and Hermione and Ron trailed behind.

"Great, cause this is starting to hurt." Carrot itched at his newly growing scales and hoped they got there quickly.

-----

"I still can't believe he's here." Tira spoke softly as she stared at her hands in her lap. Her older sister sat next to her on the courtyard bench and Gateau was leaning against a pillar. They had explained the situation over dinner, but she still couldn't believe it. She tried to look for Sacher at the teacher's table, but his seat was empty. "Are you sure?"

"Marron still thinks it's someone else, but there's no mistake." Chocolat's fingers were tight around her skirt. "It's Sacher. I'm sure."

Gateau shook his head. "As much as I'd like to agree with Chocolat, we should probably lie low until we're absolutely sure. For starters, we saw Sacher die. So why is he here?"

"That's just what we need to find out." Chocolat stood up from the bench and dusted off the back of her robes. "But for now, we should probably head back to our rooms."

Tira nodded. "Yeah, I have homework to do yet. And a few of my classmates offered to show me around before curfew."

"I'm glad you're making some friends over there, Tira. I'd hate for you to be all by yourself." Chocolat smiled.

"Thanks, sister. But I'll be fine." Tira laughed. "Just don't you and Gateau get into too much trouble."

"Trouble, us?" Gateau laughed. "Who do you think we are?"

Tira pushed her glasses up higher on her nose and smirked. "Trouble."

-----

"Brother!" Marron rushed down the stairs and across the common-room when he spied Carrot in the middle very clearly half transformed. "What happened?"

"Malfoy." Carrot glared. It had been hell getting inside of the stupid dungeon between waiting for someone to let them in to scaring off the kids who wouldn't leave Harry alone. He'd never understand this whole house bickering thing that was going on. But, that Adrian kid happened to walk by and was kind enough to see the problem and let Carrot and the Gryffindors into the room. He needed to fix this now before anyone else asked a question. Though, Carrot was surprised by how little people questioned his transformation. "Can you fix this?"

"Of course." Marron nodded before pulling Carrot along up to his room. The other three followed quickly behind. Once he had waved the other dorm mates out of the room (with Carrot looking as fierce as he did they didn't question) and after making sure the room door was shut, Marron pulled out a seal and slapped it on Carrot's chest. He pulled out another six or seven to help drain the magic. "Just hold still."

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked as she walked over to sit on a bed. She watched carefully as the pieces of paper started to turn black and crinkle.

Marron peeled off a full seal and crinkled it into a ball where it turned into a tiny plush of a snake. A second one followed suit and was quickly replaced with a new one. "They absorb the magic."

"That's wicked." Ron picked up the small snake and poked at it. It was pulsing slightly with an odd energy. "But I don't get it, why'd you turn into a snake in the first place?"

"It's a long story and I'd rather not go into it-yeowch! Careful Marron."

"Sorry Brother." Marron bit his lip. That last ward had stuck to his skin and pulling it off took a bit of said skin with it. "But really, this is a situation unique to my Brother. Please don't trouble yourselves."

"Dude, he's Harry Potter. Trouble is like his middle name." Ron laughed and slapped an arm around his friend.

"Ron." Hermione scolded. When the two boys quieted, she turned back to the two brothers. "Though, I will admit I'm also curious."

Carrot shrugged and looked down at his now human hands. As the magic was absorbed he could feel his human form returning. However, he looked down at his legs and remembered something important. "You guys got an extra robe or something?"

"Why?"

"Because when my legs turn back, I'm not going to have any pants." Carrot stated bluntly before rubbing his chin. "Though if the lovely lady wants to see my goods, who am I to den-OW!"

"Behave yourself, Brother." Marron ripped that last one off harshly on purpose. "What would Tira or Chocolat say?"

"Don't side with them." Carrot huffed, but took the robe that was handed to him and covered up the snake half. "Thanks, Harry."

"No problem." The Boy Who Lived looked at the other man and watched carefully as a ward was added, it turned black and the motions repeated. "So, you're sucking magic out of Carrot and he turns to normal?"

"Basically."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Hermione pushed. They had told them to stay out of it, but she'd never read about anything like this before! Curiosity and knowledge were getting the best of her. "How did he absorb the magic and transform in the first place?"

Carrot rolled his eyes. "I'm cursed, alright? My body absorbs magic, decides what type it is and then reconfigures my body into one of the different animal signs in my body."

"In other words, magic spells are utterly useless against my Brother." Marron smirked as the last of the magic was drained out and his elder brother's legs was returned. He started to attach the normal wards to help tide his brother over for the night. "There you go, all done."

"Wow, that's a wicked ability." Ron looked in awe as the man stretched and all the pieces of paper covering him. "Looks like a pain though."

"Tell me about it. This place is loaded with magic in the air and I'm absorbing it like a sponge." Carrot moaned when he saw the clock. "And I'm totally late for my runs! Filch is going to kill me. See ya later!"

"Brother." Marron sighed as Carrot raced out the door, clad in only his torn shirt and Harry's robe wrapped around his waist. "He's hopeless."

"Is he really going to be okay?" Harry ventured.

"Oh yes, he'll be fine." Marron laughed. If Harry knew what usually took place to turn Carrot back to normal he wouldn't question the quick and painless absorption of magic he just saw. However, the others had noticed his door open and were starting to filter back into the room. "Though you guys might want to head back to your own dorm before my less than pleasant housemates get to you."

"Yeah, see you later Marron!" Harry waved.

"Bye mate!" Ron added in and trailed out after Harry with Hermione following. Marron waved after them and stretched. It was a bit early, but he decided to turn in early for the night. The long haired beauty pet Dusty quickly before pulling the curtains around his bed closed. He'd deal with Malfoy, Sacher and the rest after he'd slept.

* * *

AN: Sacher as the DADA Teacher. To pull this off I've combined a bit of canon from both the anime and manga. For the manga - Sacher's physical death. From the Anime, at the end when the characters died their souls ended up in a parallel universe. Same concept, Sacher died and his soul went to Harry's world. As in the anime, time differences do not apply, so Sacher has lived his entire life in Harry's world - as to whether he'll remember his past life or not, you'll have to read and find out. 


End file.
